COVID Statement

TO HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS, PATIENTS, PARTNERS AND OUR COMMUNITY

Updated November 2022

First and foremost, we would like to express our continued sincere sympathy to all around the world who have been adversely affected by COVID-19. At Daiichi Sankyo, our top priority is to help protect the well-being and safety of our entire community – our patients, the healthcare providers who treat them, our employees, and our partners.

We remain dedicated to delivering an uninterrupted supply of our medicines, ensuring that our clinical trials continue safely and appropriately, actively studying potential vaccines to prevent COVID-19, and dedicating charitable funds and partnership to organizations in our communities and beyond. As such, we have taken measures to contribute to the overall effort to limit the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19 and lessen the negative effects of the pandemic.

Continuous Product Supply and Delivery
At the earliest signs of this virus, we immediately began taking necessary measures to ensure the supply and delivery of our products worldwide. To date, there has been no disruption to our supply chain or the delivery of our medicines to the people who need them due to the pandemic, in the U.S. or elsewhere. Nevertheless, we continue to monitor this situation closely.

Ongoing Clinical Trials
Even as the pandemic evolves and vaccines have become available, Daiichi Sankyo continues to partner with our CROs and clinical trial investigators to support their ability to meet trial protocol and ethics requirements. We experienced temporary suspensions and interruptions for enrollment in some studies due to conditions in local areas. Although most trials have resumed enrollment, there remain certain site limitations including staffing shortages that limit the full potential of enrollment. 

Our Company’s Efforts to Limit the Spread of the Virus that Causes COVID-19

Employees in the United States
At Daiichi Sankyo, Inc., in March 2020, all employees and contractors had ceased all live, face-to-face interactions.  Over time, guided by CDC recommendations, and local government requirements, Daiichi Sankyo in the U.S.  returned to live interactions.  Now that we have returned to live engagements, we have introduced our new program called “FLEX+CONNECT” -- a hybrid work location model allowing us the freedom of working virtually combined with the community of working onsite or in live interactions.  Our colleagues connect live when collaboration and in-person interactions are preferred or needed to produce better results on behalf of patients.  At other times, our colleagues can flex and work at home. 

COVID-19 Vaccine Development
By leveraging the best use of our past and present research properties, technologies and accumulated R&D knowledge, and in collaboration with external institutions, Daiichi Sankyo researchers in Japan continue their work on developing COVID-19 vaccines.

Daiichi Sankyo took part in the planning of a study entitled, “Fundamental Research on the Control of a Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV),” which is being conducted under the Japan Medical Research and Development Agency’s (AMED) Project for Innovative Medicines Research Promotion for the Suppression of Emerging and Re-Emerging Infectious Disease. In addition, utilizing novel nucleic acid delivery technology developed by Daiichi Sankyo, the company initiated a basic research project on a genetic (mRNA) vaccine. The technology focuses on forming lipid nanoparticle structures, stabilizing pharmaceutical active ingredients, and delivering nucleic acid into immune cells with the goal of inducing a more optimal immune response compared to conventional vaccine technology.

Based on promising lab testing, we set the development of this mRNA vaccine as one of our top priority projects.   We announced top line results on these efforts in November 2022 (LINK).  We are proud to contribute to addressing the critical challenges in vaccine development with AMED, as part of a government-wide effort against the worldwide spread of COVID-19.

Supporting Those Fighting the Pandemic
To support responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, Daiichi Sankyo and its affiliates made financial donations to a variety of esteemed organizations that have dedicated efforts to fighting this pandemic. This includes a substantial donation from our parent company, Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd. to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund, in support of COVID-19 countermeasures led by the World Health Organization.

Supporting Our Employees and Associates
We are proud to have established a wide variety of support programs and activities to help our employees and consultants as we navigated through the first two years of the crisis. In the U.S., our Urgent Response Management Team partnered with our local leadership on the following programs, among others:

• Established wide flexibility for all employees to care for their families and loved ones
• Expanded upon our generous health benefits, including virtual health care, reimbursement for at-home fitness options, and more
• Offered seminars to help manage stress, optimize remote ways of working, cope with loss, support children through challenging times, and more
• Encouraged frequent check-ins for teams and providing the technology to do so
• Expanded our “Arigato” program, a program that allows employees to express appreciation for each other on behalf of a project, team or individual
• Facilitated discussion groups bringing parents of school-aged children together to discuss challenges, share solutions and form connections between colleagues in similar situations
• Allocated funds to allow employees to obtain needed items and establish proper ergonomics for working-from-home
• Temporarily updated our vacation policy to provide additional flexibility
• Introduced a temporary part-time working policy during COVID-19 for employees who want to take advantage of it for better work-life balance

We continue to be amazed by the generosity, creativity and resilience of our colleagues at Daiichi Sankyo and encourage them to continue bringing their thoughtful ideas and concerns forward.

At the Daiichi Sankyo Group, including Daiichi Sankyo, Inc., we will continue to strive to prevent the further spread of COVID-19 as well as provide timely, updated guidance related to our efforts, measures and initiatives.