Roche (Philippines) Inc.

Filipinos love extending significant events – think our world-renowned Christmas season – and we at Roche in the Philippines are no different. The local celebration of the Roche Children’s Walk, our largest employee-driven fundraising event, kicked off its 21st year on June 24 with our OneRoche teams from Pharmaceuticals (led by Dr. Diana Edralin, MD, DPCOM), Diagnostics (led by Marco Valencia Sanchez), and Diabetes Care (led by Russell Ibit, CPA,MBA) split into Teams Blue, Purple, and Orange. With the sky and sun cooperating and proudly wearing our white Children’s Walk t-shirts, we marched back and forth down Bonifacio High Street in Taguig City on that early Monday morning to make known our continued commitment to making a difference for children around the globe. A Treasure Hunt got all of us busy searching for the hidden “gems” our organizing team scattered across High Street. When we returned to “base”, UNICEF’s education and international development expert Jukka Tulivuori updated us on how our efforts are helping improve the local education system. And because we are in the Philippines, Roche has stretched our Children’s Walk activities throughout July via various fundraisers. For details on those, stay tuned!

Our very own Dr. Maria Teresa Teng Dioko (seated, center in top photo, third from left in bottom photo) chairs the Chamber's Healthcare Committee. With the ECCP, we at Roche continue to advocate for and work toward what's best for Filipino patients.

Today, we join Filipinos worldwide in celebrating our 126th anniversary of Independence. Once again, we are reminded that #freedom is worth fighting for – in particular, the freedom from the oppression of diseases that limit us from leading healthy and fulfilling lives. In the Philippines, our fight for a healthier future requires the exercise of our famed “bayanihan” spirit. We, in the pharmaceutical and #healthcare industry, continue to work together with the government, medical professionals, civic society, and the private sector to deliver the life saving solutions that allow Filipinos to attain the highest attainable standard of health conducive to living a life in dignity. In spirit of courage, resilience and unity of Philippine independence, we reiterate our commitment to working with our partners and stakeholders to bring the meaningful, liberating, life-changing health #innovations to those who need it most. With patient access at the core of our ethic, we will help build strong, responsive and resilient healthcare systems so Filipinos can truly celebrate their freedom – from the bondage of illness, from worry, and from want. Let us value and cherish these freedoms, paid for by the sacrifices of our forefathers, by prioritizing our #health, our families and loved ones, and our dignity. Mabuhay ang Pilipinas, mabuhay ang Pilipino! #philippineindepenceday #arawngkalayaan #healthierfuture #strongforsomeone #bayanihanforhealth

We proudly congratulate our very own Dr. Diana Edralin, MD, DPCOM, General Manager for Pharmaceuticals, for being elected Vice President of the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) for 2024 to 2025. This was revealed during the ECCP’s recent Annual General Membership Meeting in Taguig City. Dr. Edralin is now one of two vice presidents of the prestigious chamber, the other being Mr. Roman Menz, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Republic Cement Services Inc. Mr. Paulo Duarte, managing director of Robert Bosch Inc. in the Philippines, was also elected as ECCP President for another term. Dr. Edralin was elected to a two-year term on the ECCP Board of Directors in 2023. She is the only woman among the 11 current directors of the European-PH chamber, founded in 1978, and currently counts 811 member companies from a vast array of industries. “I sincerely thank my fellow directors and colleagues in the ECCP for their trust in me to serve alongside Mr. Duarte, our Executive Director Mr. Florian Gottein, and the Chamber’s hardworking and capable team. This is not just another victory for Filipinas, but also for diversity and inclusion, encompassing not only gender but also age and race, among others,” Dr. Edralin says.

In celebrating International Clinical Trials Day, we salute the trailblazers among us, both the patients who participate in clinical trials past and present and our esteemed colleagues – Filipino clinical investigators, study coordinators, and clinical research professionals among them – in this worldwide community as they work together on life-saving health solutions at the frontiers of science, as we do at Roche today. From Scottish physician James Lind, who attempted to treat scurvy in sailors using oranges and lemons on board a British ship nearly 300 years ago, to our colleagues in Roche today who push the boundaries of research and development on such areas as gene therapy, monoclonal antibodies, antibody engineering, immunotherapy, and new antibiotics, clinical trials have helped us deliver on our commitment of “doing now what patients need next.” Therapies and solutions for cancer, hemophilia, viral infections, neurologic conditions, and blindness – and even the new modes of subcutaneous and intravenous administration of drugs and the diagnostic tests that help uncover the roots of these ailments – would not be possible without the diligent and persistent progress made by clinical researchers and patients together. These personalized and even digital innovations that save countless lives at present and in the future drive Roche to change how we manage disease, and ultimately transform healthcare for Filipinos and the world as a whole. We join the celebration and recognition of the global clinical research community and wish them all the best for the unseen yet saving work they do for you and me.

About every 2 minutes, another woman receives a diagnosis of ovarian cancer around the world(1). Symptoms are non-specific and can be confused with gastrointestinal complaints making early diagnosis difficult(2). Symptoms can include(3,4): • Bloating • Pelvic or abdominal pain • Difficulty eating or feeling full quickly • Urinary symptoms (urgency or frequency) Don’t delay scheduling an appointment with your healthcare professional to check on any symptoms. M-PH-00002086 References: 1. Global Cancer Statistics 2020:GLOBOCAN Estimates of Incidence and Mortality Worldwide for 36 Cancers in 185 Countries: CA Cancer J Clin, 71, 209-249, 2021 2. Goff BA et al, Ovarian carcinoma diagnosis, Cancer, 89, 2068-2075, 2000 3. Goff BA et al, Frequency of symptoms of ovarian cancer in women presenting to primary care clinics, JAMA, 291, 2705-2712, 2004 4. Foundation for Women’s cancer. http://spkl.io/60464NYe8 Last accessed Jan 2024

Today, 17th April, is World Haemophilia Day. Hemophilia is a rare bleeding disorder, hence we invite you to lend your voices to support the people living Haemophilia. We would like to echo the theme this year from the World Federation of Hemophilia to call for ‘Equitable Access for All: recognizing all bleeding disorders.' By sharing this post, it will help spread awareness towards the importance of equitable access to all in bleeding disorders. References: 1. WFH Guidelines for the Management of Hemophilia 3rd Edition, 2020. https://lnkd.in/eY96jk9 2. WFH World Bleeding Disorders Registry, 2022 Data Report, data from Western Pacific and South East Asia regions. https://lnkd.in/gPgk3U2P

We would officially like to congratulate Ms. Karen Alparce-Villanueva, President of the Philippine Alliance of Patient Organization, for being awarded as one of the top 3 out of 47 who submitted entries for the poster exhibition at #IEEPO Her work stresses the need to build the capacity of patient leaders in the areas of leadership and management to help elevate the voices of patients and help in the shaping of health policy. #HumanisingHealthcare #UHC #AcceleratingAction

carmen auste, CEO and Founding President of Cancer Warrior Foundations spoke at the session Accelerating Action in Evidence-Based Advocacy. Here she challenged us to go beyond the data by telling the stories of our patients in order to create empathy and compassion in key stakeholders. We will only be able to properly address the needs of people living with these conditions if we include and fully consider their perspectives in the evidence packages and frameworks that industry, regulators, and payers are using to assess the value of health technologies. At #IEEPO, we are working hard to take evidence-based advocacy to the next level. We focused on eye conditions, cancer, MS, hemophilia, and rare diseases, but this could be applied to so many disease areas beyond the ones we focused on today. #IEEPOStory #HumanisingHealthcare

One of our delegates, Kara Magsanoc-Alikpala, Founding President of the ICanServe Foundation, is featured as one of the key panelists for the session on Accelerating Action in Health Equity. At this session, she shared how the challenge of working in a devolved healthcare system meant they had to work closely with local governments to create a community-based breast cancer control program. We have an important opportunity to modernize healthcare systems. As we do so, we should make sure they are designed by and for the people who are using them. Most measures need to be put in place to ensure equitable access to healthcare and overcome inequity related to gender, stigmas and geography. #IEEPO #HumanisingHealthcare #UHC