CSL Behring has awarded four advocacy grants totaling $87,000 to patient organizations in the U.S. through its Local Empowerment for Advocacy Development (LEAD) program. LEAD grants support grassroots advocacy efforts by organizations committed to helping people who use plasma-derived or recombinant therapies to manage their health conditions.
Since the LEAD program was established in 2008, CSL Behring has awarded more than $340,000 in four semi-annual grant cycles. The deadline for the fifth round of grant requests is Friday, April 30, 2010. Applications, specific criteria for applying and more information about the LEAD program are available on the CSL Web site.
The most recent LEAD grants were awarded to:
- The National Hemophilia Foundation to conduct “advocacy boot camps” in conjunction with 2010 regional training programs. The boot camps are designed to give bleeding disorder community members the skills necessary to advocate for their healthcare. The camps will also train advocacy officers to serve as next year’s boot camp volunteer instructors, thereby growing a nationwide Hemophilia Advocacy Corps.
- Advocacy for Patients with Chronic Illness in Farmington, CT, to develop an online patient resource center. This online center will help patients who rely on intravenous immune globulin therapies find the resources they need to maintain insurance coverage for their therapy.
- Hemophilia and Bleeding Disorders of Alabama (in Montgomery) to help enact standards of care legislation in the Alabama legislature. These standards of care would establish a baseline of services that a home healthcare company must offer in order to be a recognized provider of clotting factors. In addition they will also require reimbursement by state regulated insurers of all blood clotting factors licensed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
- The Great Lakes Hemophilia Foundation of Milwaukee, WI, to assist with its outreach efforts to legislators and regulators to ensure access to all blood clotting factors through the Wisconsin Medicaid program or the Wisconsin Chronic Disease program.
“CSL Behring is pleased to recognize four patient organizations who advocate for patient access to care with LEAD Grants,” said Dennis Jackman, Senior Vice President, Public Affairs, CSL Behring. “Each of these organizations shares our company's commitment to saving and improving the lives of people with rare and serious diseases.”
Source: CSL Behring news release dated December 29, 2009
