GSK Canada statement on COVID-19
The situation is dynamic and changing rapidly. As the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak continues, we are closely monitoring the situation and keeping our plans under constant review.
Our first priority is welfare of employees and helping to limit the spread of the virus in our communities.
We are monitoring the situation closely and are supporting employees to follow local public health guidance. GSK in Canada has taken several steps to protect and support all our employees, including requesting that our field-based employees work from home until the beginning of April, at which time we will reassess.
As a result, all face to face stakeholder meetings and interactions will be postponed or, where possible, leverage digital technology.
Healthcare providers are welcome to reach out to their GSK representative or customer service at 1-800-387-7374 with any inquiries.
Ensuring the quality, safety and reliable supply of our products is critical to our business and the patients we serve.
We have supply chain planning in place for our products, which includes measures to secure reliable supply, such as holding strategic stock and dual sourcing. We will continue to work closely with global Governments to respond to this issue and communicate to regulators and customers about any stock issues in the usual way.
As a leader in science and innovation, at a global level we are helping to contribute to the fight against COVID-19 with one of our advanced vaccine adjuvant systems.
An adjuvant is added to some vaccines to enhance the immune response, thereby creating a stronger and longer lasting immunity against infections than the vaccine alone. The use of an adjuvant is of particular importance in a pandemic situation since it can reduce the amount of antigen required per dose, allowing more vaccine doses to be produced and made available to more people.
At the beginning of February, we announced a collaboration with CEPI to make our established pandemic vaccine adjuvant platform technology available to CEPI funded entities to enhance the development of an effective vaccine against COVID-19. We have since announced a collaboration with Clover Biopharmaceuticals, a China based global clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing novel and transformative biologic therapies. We will provide Clover with our pandemic adjuvant system for further evaluation of their coronavirus vaccine candidate.
These partnerships seek to improve the scientific understanding of the novel coronavirus, and to develop vaccines against it, with the aim of advancing COVID-19 vaccine candidates into clinical testing as quickly as possible.
