Roche takes to the streets in support of Aids orphans

Roche is to stage its fifth Global Roche Employee Aids Walk on December 1st with 12,000 employees from over 90 Roche sites expected to take to the streets.

The walk is a worldwide event intended to raise money for children who have been orphaned as a result of HIV/Aids, with the majority of the donations going to children in Malawi who have lost parents.

Most of the money raised will be donated to day-care centres run by the European Coalition of Positive People (ECPP) which provides children with food, clothing, basic healthcare and education.

Roche also works closely with Unicef Switzerland to support primary-level education for orphans at local schools.

Urs Jaisli, chairman of Roche’s Sustainability Committee highlighted than since the first Aids walk in 2003, tens of thousands of Roche employees had joined in the walk to raise a total of 4.4 million Swiss francs (1.7 million pounds) to provide long-term help to Aids orphans in Malawi.

“Roche is proud of its employees’ commitment to this cause and, together with the ECPP and Unicef, will continue to provide long-term support for children’s day-care and education centres in Malawi.”

Also this week, Roche and Maxygen jointly agreed to terminate their development of Maxy-alpha, a compound also known as R7025.