AstraZeneca Donates Over RMB 6 Million Worth of Nebulized Expectorant Medication to Support COVID-19 Prevention and Control

Shanghai, March 18, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- On March 18, 2020, AstraZeneca announced a donation of nebulized expectorant medications (acetylcysteine solution for inhalation) valued at over RMB 6 million to the China Primary Health Care Foundation. These medications are intended for the symptomatic treatment of patients with COVID-19 and for disease prevention and control. The donation covers multiple provinces and municipalities across China, including Hubei Province and Wuhan City. More than half of the donated medicines will be allocated to county-level hospitals, benefiting a vast number of patients in grassroots communities.

As the pandemic evolved and research into COVID-19 continued to deepen, expectorant medications have gained greater prominence in clinical diagnosis and treatment. In its fundraising appeal, the China Primary Health Care Foundation also noted that some hospitals treating COVID-19 patients and county-level hospitals still lacked adequate supplies of expectorant drugs. Recognizing epidemic prevention and control as a core responsibility, AstraZeneca promptly decided to donate nebulized expectorant medication (acetylcysteine solution for inhalation) to the China Primary Health Care Foundation upon learning of the needs of hospitals and patients. The company also intensified its donations to primary care hospitals to alleviate drug supply pressures at all levels and support COVID-19 prevention and control efforts.

After urgent preparations, the first batch of medicines has arrived at Yunyang People's Hospital in Danyang City, Jiangsu Province, and Jing County People's Hospital in Xuancheng City, Anhui Province, to support local epidemic prevention and control efforts.

As long as the pandemic persists, our actions will not cease. Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, AstraZeneca has responded immediately, actively participating in the fight against the epidemic and continuing donations: donating RMB 1 million to the Chinese Red Cross Foundation; coordinating resources globally to donate 15,000 medical masks to 15 hospitals in Wuhan; donating medicines worth more than RMB 5.5 million to Huoshenshan Hospital and Leishenshan Hospital in Wuhan; jointly with FibroGen (China), donating innovative drugs worth nearly RMB 1 million for the treatment of renal anemia to the China Primary Health Care Foundation; and donating over 90,000 pairs of medical gloves to provinces, cities, counties, and townships across China, all aimed at supporting the treatment and prevention and control of COVID-19.

Lei Wang, Executive Vice President of AstraZeneca and President of International Business and China, stated, “AstraZeneca continues to closely monitor the development of the epidemic and provides support within its capacity for epidemic prevention and control based on actual needs. We believe that we will ultimately prevail in this fight against the epidemic, and we have even greater confidence in the strong resilience of China’s economy. We remain optimistic about China’s robust economic potential and will continue to support the development of China’s economy through concrete actions, growing together with it.”