Transatlantic Charitable Partnership Aims to Meet the Needs of People Living with Cancer
DEERFIELD, Ill.--Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (Nasdaq: WBA) announced today the launch of its Collaboration for Cancer Prevention, Research and Support, a transatlantic charitable partnership between the company and leading European, British and American cancer organizations to support people living with cancer at all moments of their journey.
WBA gathered recently with leaders from the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), Macmillan Cancer Support and Susan G. Komen® as they officially launched the Collaboration and committed to pursue joint projects with the goal of ensuring a future in which patients have access to personalized care and support. The three cancer organizations and WBA agreed to collaborate on initiatives to develop and support innovative cancer research infrastructure and to share best practices to improve patient care. WBA is committed to facilitating these collaborative efforts, supporting their success through fundraising and driving their impact through its pharmacy locations, a common touchpoint for people with cancer.
Ornella Barra, WBA Co-Chief Operating Officer and the Chairman of the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility Committee, said: “As a global health and wellbeing enterprise, WBA’s purpose is to help people live healthier and happier lives, and we are committed to doing all we can to support the fight against cancer. With our global health reach and broad network of partners, we are uniquely positioned to act as convener as we bring the best minds and organizations together to fight the disease. With cancer being a leading cause of death worldwide, WBA is accelerating and facilitating support for research and prevention, as well as assistance for people living with cancer, their loved ones and caregivers.”
More than 110,000 pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and other health care service providers and practitioners are among WBA’s more than 415,000* employees across the world. Its scale and accessible retail pharmacy locations uniquely position the company to be a resource for people living with cancer.
Community pharmacists around the world are well-trusted health care professionals that patients turn to for information and expert support when facing a cancer diagnosis and therapy. Pharmacists often dispense crucial medication to cancer patients and provide advice on its use. Through partnerships with cancer organizations WBA has been able to expand its cancer care beyond the physical wellbeing of patients, specially training its employees to also address the significant emotional impacts of cancer.
The Collaboration builds on WBA’s innovative, ongoing partnerships with the three cancer organizations.
- In Europe, WBA and EORTC recently agreed to a five-year extension of their partnership, supporting the expansion of EORTC’s pan-European cancer research infrastructure SPECTA (Screening Cancer Patients for Efficient Clinical Trial Access) to all types of cancer including rare cancers.
- In the UK, Boots UK and Macmillan Cancer Support have worked together for 10 years to provide expertise, information and support to those living with or affected by cancer. More than 2,000 Boots Macmillan Information Pharmacists and more than 800 Boots Macmillan Beauty Advisors provide support in-store for people on how to help manage the effects of cancer and its treatments. In just one year, these trained pharmacists had over 92,000 conversations and the beauty advisors delivered more than 44,500 beauty consultations, providing critical help and advice to patients in the heart of their communities across the UK.
- In the U.S., Walgreens and Susan G. Komen have a long history of working together to provide support for people with breast cancer with education, patient navigation, access to quality care and assistance for people undergoing treatment. Most recently, Komen collaborated with Walgreens on the launch of Feel More Like You, a program designed to help people with cancer manage the physical and emotional side effects of their treatment available through more than 3,000 Walgreens stores.
*Includes equity method investments
Notes to Editors:
About Walgreens Boots Alliance
Walgreens Boots Alliance (Nasdaq: WBA) is the first global pharmacy-led, health and wellbeing enterprise. The company's heritage of trusted health care services through community pharmacy care and pharmaceutical wholesaling dates back more than 100 years.
Walgreens Boots Alliance is the largest retail pharmacy, health and daily living destination across the U.S. and Europe. Walgreens Boots Alliance and the companies in which it has equity method investments together have a presence in more than 25 countries and employ more than 415,000 people. The company is a global leader in pharmacy-led, health and wellbeing retail and, together with its equity method investments, has more than 18,500 stores in 11 countries as well as one of the largest global pharmaceutical wholesale and distribution networks, with more than 390 distribution centers delivering to more than 230,000 pharmacies, doctors, health centers and hospitals each year in more than 20 countries. In addition, Walgreens Boots Alliance is one of the world’s largest purchasers of prescription drugs and many other health and wellbeing products.
The company’s portfolio of retail and business brands includes Walgreens, Duane Reade, Boots and Alliance Healthcare, as well as increasingly global health and beauty product brands, such as No7, Soap & Glory, Liz Earle, Sleek MakeUP and Botanics.
Walgreens Boots Alliance is proud to be a force for good, leveraging many decades of experience and its international scale, to care for people and the planet through numerous social responsibility and sustainability initiatives that have an impact on the health and wellbeing of millions of people.
Walgreens Boots Alliance is included in Fortune magazine’s 2019 list of the World’s Most Admired Companies and ranked first in the food and drugstore category. This is the 26th consecutive year that Walgreens Boots Alliance or its predecessor company, Walgreen Co., has been named to the list.
More company information is available at www.walgreensbootsalliance.com.
About EORTC (European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer)
EORTC is a unique pan-European clinical cancer research organization established in 1962 operating as an international nonprofit association. It develops, conducts, coordinates and stimulates high-quality translational and clinical trial research to improve the survival and quality of life of cancer patients. EORTC research network consists of over 5,300 researchers and doctors from all disciplines involved in cancer treatment and research in more than 930 university hospitals in 37 countries. Its research spans the entire spectrum from translational and preclinical research to large, prospective, multi-center, phase III clinical trials that evaluate new cancer therapies and/or treatment strategies as well as patient quality of life. Today, EORTC has 213 ongoing studies, 27,000 patients in follow-up and outcome data from over 200,000 cancer patients that form EORTC’s clinical study database. For further information, please visit the EORTC website: www.eortc.org.
About Macmillan Cancer Support
Macmillan Cancer Support is the UK’s leading cancer supporter charity, giving personal, one to one support and care to thousands of people every day. Funded almost entirely through donations, Macmillan is there to help everyone in the UK with cancer live life as fully as they can, providing expert information and physical, financial and emotional support. So whatever cancer throws your way, Macmillan is right there with you.
About Susan G. Komen
Susan G. Komen is the world’s largest breast cancer organization, funding more breast cancer research than any other nonprofit outside of the U.S. government while providing real-time help to those facing the disease. Komen has set a Bold Goal to reduce the current number of breast cancer deaths by 50 percent in the U.S. by 2026. Since its founding in 1982, Komen has funded more than $988 million in research and provided more than $2.2 billion in funding to screening, education, treatment and psychosocial support programs serving millions of people in more than 60 countries worldwide. Visit komen.org or connect with us on social at ww5.komen.org/social.
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