Dr Abofele Khoele named as Managing Director to drive women’s healthcare organisation

Organon, in South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa Organon South Africa, launching with a commitment to listen to women to understand her health needs and help identify solutions that are urgently needed 

Johannesburg, South Africa, June 2021 – Organon (NYSE: OGN), celebrated its launch on 4 June, as the only global company of its size focused on women’s health. Worldwide women’s life expectancy is on average 75.6 years while in South Africa life expectancy for women is on average 68.42 years.1 Organon South Africa aims to address the healthcare issues facing South African women and those in the Sub-Saharan region, and in turn to significantly improve their health. With an international footprint that serves people in more than 140 markets, Organon’s mission is to deliver impactful medicines and solutions for healthcare issues facing women in Sub-Saharan Africa. “As a new healthcare company in South Africa our focus is on listening to South African women’s healthcare needs, and develop solutions tailored to their needs. With our global reach and local mindset, we know there is much we can do for women’s health in South Africa,” explains Organon South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa Managing Director, Dr Abofele Khoele. Organon will also focus on its important biosimilars business, focusing on oncology and inflammatory diseases, while maximizing the value of its trusted dermatology, pain, respiratory and cardiovascular portfolio in countries around the world where there is still great need for these treatments. Yesterday, the Organon global executive leadership team rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) to mark the first day of active trading. Recognising the need to listen to and act on women’s experiences to address the challenges in women’s health, Organon gathered voices from around the world to create the “Wall of Voices,” a multimedia installation outside of the NYSE sharing powerful perspectives, voices, and images. “Women form the backbone of societies across the world, playing crucial roles in all aspects of life. It is long past time that the challenges facing women’s healthcare in Sub-Saharan Africa are in the spotlight,” says Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng, Sexual and reproductive health expert and author.

 Diverse Portfolio will Drive Sustainable Growth

At launch, Organon’s portfolio will consist of more than 60 medicines and products across an international footprint that serves people in more than 140 markets. Organon has three core pillars which will benefit from renewed management focus and commercial investment: Women’s Health: As a long-standing leader in reproductive health, this part of our portfolio empowers women to make an informed choice for their life. No other large global pharmaceutical company has the health of women as its primary therapeutic area of focus.Biosimilars: We will continue to build on our unique global expertise and experience and are seeking to bring new oncology and immunology biosimilar medicines to patients. We are seeking to expand our Biosimilar portfolio by broadening the reach of our portfolio of medicines into new geographies as well as commercializing additional products. Established Brands: Our established brands portfolio has a particularly strong foothold in emerging markets where we have a broad base of products enabling us to build targeted additional healthcare offerings. 

Women at the Centre: Organon’s Approach to Innovation

Organon’s R&D philosophy is to build a business around patient needs, with the goal of identifying and advancing healthcare options for women that enable them to live their best lives every day. Extensive resources will be poured into the research and development of new innovative solutions to address healthcare challenges facing women. As a result, women will play a key role in the company, from leadership to development. Nearly 60% of Organon South Africa is made up of women, and women are prioritised to be promoted into new leadership roles. “If we want to find realistic solutions to women’s healthcare challenges, we need women as the decision makers and in other key roles to ensure we do so efficiently and effectively,” emphasises Dr Khoele. “For too long, women have been told to accept and normalise -frequently occurring conditions such as heavy, painful, and irregular menstrual bleeding, incontinence and menopause, as well as other diseases that only affect women, or disproportionately affect women,” states Dr Khoele. “Organon’s mission is to change this. We believe this approach will be very successful — the ability to identify diseases earlier, the ability to modify the course of diseases or healthcare conditions and to ultimately, improve the quality of life for women at all stages.” The company’s extensive global capabilities in clinical development and patient safety, regulatory and medical affairs make it well-positioned to identify promising drugs, diagnostics, and devices with the greatest potential to impact women’s health. To learn more about Organon, please visit: 

https://mobile.twitter.com/OrganonSouth

https://www.linkedin.com/company/organonsouthafrica

https://www.facebook.com/OrganonSouthAfrica

https://www.instagram.com/organon_south_africa/ 

#hereforherhealth

 Press Contact: Tranica Ramsunder

BooST Communications

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 References

Worldometers. Life Expectancy of the World Population, pg. 1, 11. 2020. [Online] Available from: https://www.worldometers.info/demographics/life-expectancy/. [Accessed 13 April]