AstraZeneca Strengthens Commitment to Provide Free and Low-Cost Medicines to Patients in Need Through New Industry Initiative
April 05 2005 - 8:30AM
PR Newswire (US)
AstraZeneca Strengthens Commitment to Provide Free and Low-Cost
Medicines to Patients in Need Through New Industry Initiative
WILMINGTON, Del., April 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Today
AstraZeneca, one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies,
announced its participation in Partnership for Prescription
Assistance (PPA), a groundbreaking national initiative that will
make it easier for consumers to access patient assistance programs.
Qualifying patients who lack prescription coverage now have a
single point of contact to access information and apply for
medicines they need through the public or private program that is
right for them. It is the first time that consumers have been able
to access all of these programs through a single free service.
"AstraZeneca is proud to be a part of this innovative program. This
centralized information and application system makes it easier for
patients to access multiple assistance programs, including
AstraZeneca's programs, and reinforces our commitment to helping
people find significant savings on medicine," said David Brennan,
President and CEO, AstraZeneca US. "Today's launch is another step
forward for the 45 million people in the United States who require
help affording the medicines they need." For more than 25 years,
AstraZeneca has offered patient access programs. In 2004,
AstraZeneca provided more than $765 million in savings through its
assistance programs to 800,000 patients without drug coverage
throughout the US and Puerto Rico. AstraZeneca's programs, along
with other patient assistance programs, can now be accessed via the
PPA toll-free phone number (1-800-4PPA-NOW) or Web site
(http://www.pparx.org/). The PPA consists of a coalition of
America's pharmaceutical companies, physicians and patient
advocates and represents the largest ever private- sector program
to bring medicines to Americans who lack prescription drug coverage
and are having difficulty affording their prescription medicines.
More than 275 public and private patient assistance programs are
available through the PPA, including more than 150 programs offered
by pharmaceutical companies. In 2004, the pharmaceutical industry
helped an estimated 6.6 million patients receive 22,119,664
prescriptions with a wholesale value topping $4.17 billion.
AstraZeneca is a major international healthcare business engaged in
the research, development, manufacture and marketing of
prescription pharmaceuticals and the supply of healthcare services.
It is one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies with
healthcare sales of over $21.4 billion and leading positions in
sales of gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, respiratory, oncology
and neuroscience products. In the United States, AstraZeneca is a
$9.6 billion healthcare business with more than 12,000 employees.
AstraZeneca is listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index
(Global) as well as the FTSE4Good Index. For more information about
AstraZeneca, please visit: http://www.astrazeneca-us.com/
DATASOURCE: AstraZeneca CONTACT: Carla Burigatto, +1-302-886-5953,
, or Abby Baron, +1-302-885-3578, , both of AstraZeneca Web site:
http://www.astrazeneca-us.com/ http://www.pparx.org/ Company News
On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/985887.html
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