MENARINI is a fully integrated privately owned pharma company with a long and successful heritage in strategic partnering across the globe. We have a profound know-how stemming from our strong R&D capabilities in key therapeutic areas, coupled with our excellence in commercial execution and our powerful direct presence on a global basis.
The COVID Emergency
United against COVID-19. At a difficult time for Italy and the world, Menarini has carried forward a series of solidarity initiatives in support of patients and healthcare workers. In the countries where it is present, Menarini has continued to contribute to the fight against COVID-19 with numerous donation projects.
Ever since the first outbreaks were identified in Asia, Menarini has acted promptly to protect the health of its employees. Even before the spread of the virus in Europe and the subsequent scheduling of lockdowns, the Group adopted a series of preventive safety measures aimed at preserving the health of its employees and their families and preventing any possible contagion.
As the number of cases of COVID increased in Italy, Menarini took immediate action with several projects to support those fighting the virus on the frontline.
Since the beginning of March, Menarini has converted part of its factory in Florence for the production of disinfectant gel to be donated to the Italian Civil Protection. From the initial five tonnes of gel per week, Menarini now produces 100 tonnes per month.
To guarantee the safety of healthcare workers, Menarini has donated more than 1 million surgical and FFP2 masks to all the General Medicine Federations and Scientific Societies of General Medicine, to allow for a fair and capillary distribution throughout Italy. Added to this are 13.500 protective overalls, 330.000 gloves, 14.000 pairs of goggles, as well as an ultrasound machine, lung ventilators and a bio-containment stretcher.
For the treatment of itching, burning and redness associated with the prolonged use of personal protective equipment, Menarini Relife has donated 10.500 packs of DermoRelizema with 150.000 tubes of cream that will help healthcare workers maintain and/or restore their physiological skin barrier.
Menarini Diagnostics, on the other hand, has been working in recent months to make innovative technologies available for serological and molecular diagnostic tests. The latter are carried out using a sophisticated instrument, the size of a dictionary, which enables the diagnosis of COVID-19 in 20 minutes. Due to its small size, user-friendliness and speed of the results, this technology enables immediate diagnosis in contexts such as emergency rooms, triage tents, airports, ports and railway stations.
In addition to Italy, Menarini has also initiated a number of solidarity projects in many of the other countries affected by the virus.
In Germany, Berlin-Chemie Menarini has donated disinfectant gel to facilities on the frontline against the virus. In Europe, major financial donations to hospitals engaged in the fight against COVID have been made in the UK, Portugal, Spain, Romania and Greece. In addition, Menarini Spain has donated 17.000 serological test kits, while Menarini Hellas has purchased monitors, pulse oximeters, ultrasound scanners and devices to support local health facilities.
Branches in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden, Hungary and Uzbekistan have donated masks and personal protective equipment for healthcare workers. In addition to these devices, the Czech Republic branch has also donated 17.500 cartons of Sustenium Bioritmo to boost the energy of healthcare personnel, while Uzbek employees organised a private fundraiser to make a contribution to the facilities engaged in the fight against the virus. Czech pharmaceutical sales representative, in their spare time, with the support of the company, have sewn hundreds of masks. In Serbia, on the other hand, Menarini has donated 30 pulse oximeters in addition to making a financial contribution to support the frontline facilities.
In Asia, our subsidiary in Indonesia has made a financial contribution to support local healthcare facilities. In Thailand and Malaysia, Menarini subsidiaries have donated more than 10.000 masks. In the Philippines, the branch has distributed 160.000 masks, 4.000 visors, 2.450 protective overalls, 5.000 shoe covers, 300.000 gloves and 13.000 pairs of protective glasses free of charge. In South Korea, on the other hand, employees have spontaneously organised a fundraiser to provide support in this particularly challenging time.
Menarini Central America and the Caribbean has donated drugs and 180.000 devices to local healthcare institutions, particularly in Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama and the Dominican Republic.
Field workers are often engaged in exceedingly long and tiring shifts, which is why Menarini Ireland decided to donate to hospitals a series of relax chairs to make their breaks more comfortable. Menarini Finland, instead, wanted to thank the local healthcare staff by periodically sending emails with the Menarini Pills of Art (short videos showing and recounting the anecdotes of the most famous works of the Italian Renaissance), in the hope of providing a moment of light-heartedness and escape during these particularly difficult days.
The Menarini International Foundation has continued its mission of scientific dissemination by making a virtual library on COVID-19 available to doctors and health professionals, with texts selected by Nobel Prize winner, Louis Ignarro.
