SANTA BARBARA, Calif. & PARSIPPANY, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Direct Relief, the National Association of Free and Charitable Clinics (NAFC), and Teva Pharmaceuticals, U.S. affiliate of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE and TASE: TEVA), today announced an expansion of medicine donations through their collaborative mental health access program into seven new states to advance access to healthcare for uninsured patients seeking treatment for anxiety and depression.
Through “Community Routes: Access to Mental Health Care,” Teva will continue to provide free and charitable clinics with $2 million in grant funding over two years and make available, on a charitable basis, a portfolio of commonly used generic medications that treat anxiety and depression. Medicines will be available to free and charitable clinics and pharmacies in Direct Relief's network. The annual value of these medicines provided by Teva is over $17 million this year alone, as determined by their wholesale acquisition cost (WAC).
This announcement expands the program’s medicine donations into seven new states: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia, increasing the program’s potential reach to more than 650,000 uninsured patients through 400+ eligible free and charitable clinics across 10 total states. The seven new states announced today were selected based on the program’s ability to maximize patient impact, which was determined by assessing unmet need and the presence of a strong network of partner free and charitable clinics in each state.
The program was launched in June 2022, following which the pilot states of Florida, New Jersey and California received product donations and subsequently grant funding to selected clinics.
“As the need for mental health support surges, access to care for people living with anxiety and depression is more pressing than ever,” said Thomas Tighe, CEO and President of Direct Relief. “Direct Relief is deeply grateful to Teva for demonstrating such leadership and dedication and welcomes the opportunity to collaborate with the NAFC and Teva to provide patients with the resources necessary to lead happier and healthier lives.”
"We continue to face a mental health crisis across the U.S. and those directly impacted deserve access to treatment, regardless of background or economic status," said Sven Dethlefs, PhD, Executive Vice President, North America Commercial at Teva. "Teva is committed to the pursuit of health equity and will continue to bring forward its expertise and resources to help ensure medication availability for anxiety and depression."
Nicole Lamoureux, President and CEO of NAFC said, “Free and Charitable Clinics are critical to providing care to underserved communities. We’re appreciative of Direct Relief and Teva’s partnership as we chart new strategies to alleviate healthcare inequities and provide access to medicine for some of the most vulnerable among us.”
"Since the pandemic began, addressing mental health has continued to be a priority for our clinic,” shared Fred Bauermeister, Executive Director at Free Clinic of Simi Valley, in California. “With these donations, we have been able to increase access to medications that treat anxiety and depression for the uninsured or underinsured members of our community, generating both progress and a sense of hope."
A third of adults in the U.S. show symptoms of anxiety, depression, or both.1 Notably, more than 5.5 million adults with a mental illness are uninsured, and almost a third of all adults with a mental illness reported they were not able to receive the treatment they needed.2 Additionally, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, racial minorities have experienced higher rates of depression and anxiety compared to their white counterparts. In fact, depression was 15 to 23 times more prevalent for those who identify as Black, Hispanic or Asian.3
About Direct Relief
A humanitarian organization committed to improving the health and lives of people affected by poverty and emergencies, Direct Relief delivers lifesaving medical resources throughout the U.S. and world to communities in need—without regard to politics, religion, or ability to pay. For more information, visit https://www.DirectRelief.org.
About National Association of Free and Charitable Clinics
National Association of Free and Charitable Clinics (NAFC) is the only nonprofit 501c (3) organization whose mission is solely focused on the issues and needs of the medically underserved throughout the nation and the more than 1,400 Free and Charitable Clinics that serve them. The NAFC has earned the Platinum Seal of Transparency from GuideStar and a 4-star rating from Charity Navigator. Founded in 2001 and headquartered near Washington, D.C., the NAFC is working to ensure that the medically underserved have access to affordable quality health care and strives to be a national voice promoting quality health care for all. For more information about the NAFC, please visit www.nafcclinics.org.
About Teva
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE and TASE: TEVA) has been developing and producing medicines to improve people’s lives for more than a century. We are a global leader in generic and innovative medicines with a portfolio consisting of over 3,500 products in nearly every therapeutic area. Around 200 million people around the world take a Teva medicine every day, and are served by one of the largest and most complex supply chains in the pharmaceutical industry. Along with our established presence in generics, we have significant innovative research and operations supporting our growing portfolio of innovative and biopharmaceutical products. Learn more at www.tevapharm.com.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which are based on management’s current beliefs and expectations and are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties, both known and unknown, that could cause our future results, performance or achievements to differ significantly from that expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. You can identify these forward-looking statements by the use of words such as “should,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “target,” “may,” “project,” “guidance,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe” and other words and terms of similar meaning and expression in connection with any discussion of future operating or financial performance. Important factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include risks relating to medicine donations through our collaborative mental health access program; our ability to successfully compete in the marketplace, including our ability to develop and commercialize biopharmaceutical products, competition for our innovative medicines, including AUSTEDO®, AJOVY® and COPAXONE®, our ability to achieve expected results from investments in our product pipeline, our ability to develop and commercialize additional pharmaceutical products, and the effectiveness of our patents and other measures to protect our intellectual property rights; our substantial indebtedness; our business and operations in general, including, the impact of global economic conditions and other macroeconomic developments and the governmental and societal responses thereto, and costs and delays resulting from the extensive pharmaceutical regulation to which we are subject; compliance, regulatory and litigation matters, including failure to comply with complex legal and regulatory environments; other financial and economic risks; and other factors discussed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, including in the section captioned “Risk Factors.” Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made, and we assume no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements or other information contained herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. You are cautioned not to put undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.
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1 “Anxiety and Depression.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2023, https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/pulse/mental-health.htm
2 “The State of Mental Health in America.” Mental Health America, 2023, https://mhanational.org/issues/state-mental-health-america
3 “The mental health burden of racial and ethnic minorities during the COVID-19 pandemic.” National Institutes of Health, 2022, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9365178/
