You Could Call Us Corporate Responsibility Trendsetters

There’s a lot of buzz these days about corporate purpose and responsibility. It seems companies and investors (who brand this area as ESG - environment, social, governance) have awoken to the idea that corporations should be held to a higher standard in society than simply making money for their shareholders.

DELIVERING ON OUR MISSION

This ”trend” is welcome in that it ensures broader accountability and transparency around companies’ impact on society. Yet, at Regeneron, this idea is nothing new. Our mission has always been to leverage the power of science to repeatedly bring new medicines to people with serious diseases. For us, with a business that is designed to improve human life, it naturally follows to operate in a way that furthers our positive impact on society.

Over the years, we’ve built upon our core work of bringing medicines to patients in need with initiatives designed to ensure sustainable communities and support the next generation of scientific innovators. These programs may be billed as “corporate responsibility” -- but in our minds, they’re a logical extension of our mission.

I sometimes see companies using social impact efforts as a mitigating strategy to distract from core business practices that are fundamentally harmful to society. Efforts such as environmental stewardship, philanthropy and community engagement are important, but they are inauthentic if they do not go hand-in-hand with how the business is run.

Our founders Len Schleifer and George Yancopoulos, both physician-scientists, have led Regeneron for three decades with a long-term view guided by the mantra of “doing well by doing good.” Our responsibility strategy focuses on using the unique knowledge and expertise within our company to improve our world and make our company more resilient – ensuring that we will continue to innovate for patients in need for many years to come.

OUR RESPONSIBILITY STRATEGY HAS THREE PILLARS:

Improve the lives of people with serious disease

These strategic pillars help us focus our efforts where we can have the biggest impact – starting with deepening our portfolio of innovative medicines for people with serious diseases. We also have extensive engagement with more than 100 patient advocacy groups across a variety of diseases. These groups help us identify the right outcomes measures for clinical trials and support critical disease education and access to needed medicine.

Foster a culture of integrity and operational excellence

Our long-term investments extend to our growing, global workforce. We nurture a unique science-driven, high-integrity culture, and we are proud that approximately 90 percent of employees say that Regeneron is a great place to work. Acting ethically at every turn is a core attribute of our culture, and, among other things, it helps ensure we provide the safest, highest-quality products that people can trust.

We apply this same ethical standard in our efforts to reduce our environmental impacts. We are proud to have diverted 98 percent of waste from landfill, surpassing our five-year goal. As we continue to grow, we are committed to further integrating environmental sustainability across our company.

Build a better future

We invest in the next generation of scientific heroes through a number of STEM programs, including the Regeneron Science Talent Search. Formerly sponsored by Intel and Westinghouse, this program is the nation’s oldest and most prestigious high school science competition.

We encourage colleagues to get involved in their local communities through volunteer opportunities throughout the year and our annual global day of service, Day for Doing Good. In 2018, 61 percent of Regeneron colleagues volunteered their time to community organizations, more than double the average participation rate at other companies.¹

Today we published our annual Responsibility Report that provides more details on these efforts and much more. As we look toward the next 30 years, we are committed to continuing to set the standard for responsible business and to accelerating our efforts to “do good” in keeping with our mission. Our mission motivates us to keep finding new ways to enhance and share our impact, deepen our engagement with stakeholders, and raise the bar on what it means to be an ethical company.

1. 2018 CECP Giving in Numbers Report