STOCKHOLM--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Global women’s health company, Organon (NYSE: OGN), which employs 9,300 people globally, including 85 in its operations across the Nordics today announced the publication of its inaugural Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Report for 2021. The ESG report introduces the company’s ESG platform, known as Her Promise, and details how the company is working to help women and girls achieve the full potential of their promise through better health. The publication of the ESG Report together with the launch of Her Promise coincides with Organon’s first anniversary and reflects the company’s vision to create a better and healthier every day for every woman around the world.
As a global women’s health company, Organon is well positioned to help address several current and growing women’s health challenges. For example, nearly half of all pregnancies worldwide – about 121 million in total – are unintended. According to a 2019 study, an estimated 218 million women and girls (ages 15-49) in low-and-middle income countries had an unmet need for modern contraception. Between 2015 and 2019, the average number of unintended pregnancies among women aged 15–49 in the Nordics, stood at 195,500 per year (an average of 77,000 in Sweden, 41,000 in Norway, 38,000 in Denmark, 37,000 in Finland and 2,500 in Iceland.i)
Through Her Promise, Organon is making focused investments and forming strategic partnerships with the goal of introducing and expanding access to health solutions that improve women’s health and advance gender equity, inside and outside Organon. As a company investing in innovations to improve women’s health, Organon also recognises its responsibility to address this within its own global community. Organon recently introduced two new workplace policies across its offices in the UK, Northern Europe and Israel, to support employees experiencing menopause or pregnancy loss, whether due to miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, abortion or still birth, aiming to create a culture of openness and visibility around these life events which impact so many and yet are still often endured in silence.
“In just one year, Organon has made considerable progress in addressing gender-related disparities in health by listening to women and investing in areas where high unmet needs exist. Since our launch, we have focused on treatment gaps that need to be addressed and will continue to strive to deliver innovation, improve access and expand choice for treatment areas that uniquely or disproportionately affect women,” says Kevin Ali, Organon’s Chief Executive Officer. “The goals stated in our first ESG Report create a roadmap for the future of how we will continue to propel forward and partner to transform the current women’s health environment.”
Simon Nicholson, Managing Director for Organon across Northern Europe, the UK, and Israel adds: “Organon launched a year ago with a core mission to improve women’s health. We set out with a simple commitment to listen, and to use our understanding to address improving women’s health outcomes across their full life course. We are committed to supporting and improving their health, not just through our products, but by shining a light on those issues which are experienced by so many, but which largely remain taboo. I am proud of the great strides Organon has taken in its first 12 months. We recognise too, that to achieve our goal, we need to start by supporting the health and wellbeing of our own workforce. That’s why I am proud Organon recently implemented workplace policies across our offices in the UK, Ireland, Northern Europe, and Israel dedicated to supporting staff experiencing pregnancy loss or the menopause. Looking at the year ahead, we will continue to tackle the challenges that lie at the heart of improving health outcomes for women and it is a privilege to see this getting underway with the launch of our inaugural Environmental, Social, and Governance Strategy.”
On its one-year anniversary, Organon is making the following goals to achieve Her Promise:
- To improve access to low-cost contraceptives in 69 of the world’s least developed countries. Through the Organon Her Promise Access Initiative, Organon is working with global organizations to provide family planning information, education and access to low-cost contraceptive options. Organon’s goal is to provide 100 million girls and women in low- and middle-income countries with affordable access to contraceptive options by 2030.
- To redefine and harness innovation in women’s health. Organon will dedicate a majority of its pre-clinical and clinical development activity toward the unmet health needs of women. Organon has already begun with development activities in high unmet need areas including postpartum hemorrhage, endometriosis, and pre-term labor.
- Expand access to treatment options that improve her health and help secure her promise. Working together with global partners, Organon plans to expand access to treatment options for post-partum hemorrhage in women, in both developed and developing markets. We will also seek to help address affordability of fertility treatments and access to education to decrease the unmet medical need in fertility.
- Achieve balanced gender representation through all levels of Organon globally by 2030 and pay equity. Organon has had a strong start by launching with a Board of Directors that consists of accomplished individuals with exceptional skills and expertise, and also represents gender and racial diversity. Currently, Organon’s Board is the most diverse healthcare board on the S&P 500.
- Aim to support the transition to a low carbon economy, with an ambition to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions. We also aim to integrate water stewardship and circular economy principles into our business models. The report details concrete short- and mid-term actions we will take to meet these long-term ambitions.
- Uphold the highest levels of ethics and integrity throughout its business.
In addition, as part of its commitment to advancing gender equity through Her Promise, Organon has provided US $1.4M to Women Deliver to fund its Young Leaders Program and other advocacy work, as well as support the Women Deliver 2023 Conference (WD2023). The funding will help Young Leaders across the world to achieve their advocacy goals in gender equality and health through financial resources, mentorship, and technical assistance.
“The Board is committed to achieving both Organon’s business goals as well as contributing to societal goals, and to continuing to drive the company’s ESG strategy,” says Carrie Cox, Board Chairman. “We are pleased to be in a position to publish a comprehensive ESG report just one year after the company’s establishment and highlight our purpose and goals in improving the health of women and girls.”
The Board’s governance committee, called the ESG Committee, is comprised of five members and chaired by pharmaceutical industry veteran Robert Essner, all whom bring considerable expertise from across a variety of disciplines.
For more details on Organon’s ESG strategy, priorities, and initiatives, download the full 2021 ESG Report at Organon.com. You can access further information about Organon at Organon - Sweden or Organon - Norway.
About Organon
Organon is a global healthcare company with a focus on improving the health of women throughout their lives. Organon has a portfolio of more than 60 medicines and products across a range of therapeutic areas. Led by the women’s health portfolio coupled with an expanding biosimilars business and stable franchise of established medicines, Organon’s products produce strong cash flows that will support investments in innovation and future growth opportunities in women’s health. In addition, Organon is pursuing opportunities to collaborate with biopharmaceutical innovators looking to commercialize their products by leveraging its scale and presence in fast growing international markets.
Organon has a global footprint with significant scale and geographic reach, world-class commercial capabilities, and approximately 9,300 employees with headquarters located in Jersey City, New Jersey.
For more information, visit http://www.organon.com and connect with us on LinkedIn and Instagram.
_____________________
i Data on key sexual and reproductive health indicators from the Guttmacher Institute and other trusted sources. [Internet; cited June 2022]: Available from: https://data.guttmacher.org/countries/table?country=GB&topics=401&dataset=data
