sanofi pasteur congratulates Canadian Public Health Association for 100 years of leadership and service

SANOFI PASTEURJun 11 2010

As a longstanding partner in Canada's public health system, sanofi pasteur congratulates the Canadian Public Health Association (CPHA) for their 100 years of leadership and service to our country's public health.

"We share a tradition of protecting and safeguarding public health with the CPHA that spans close to a century," said Mark Lievonen, President, Sanofi Pasteur Limited. "CPHA was there when we created Connaught Laboratories in 1917 in Toronto and both the CPHA and sanofi pasteur shared a strong commitment to the eradication of smallpox and the control of other infectious diseases like diphtheria, tetanus, polio and whooping cough. Now as the North American vaccine centre of excellence for biopharmaceutical development as well as a global manufacturing centre of excellence, we continue to innovate for the health of Canadians and collaborate with the CPHA to help shape the future of public health."

Great public health achievements

Sanofi Pasteur is proud to be the CPHA Centenary Presenting Partner at the conference to mark their great public health achievements. Among the public health achievements championed by the CPHA which we join them in celebrating are:

- Vaccination - In the last 50 years, immunization has saved more lives in Canada than any other health intervention. - Motor-vehicle safety - many lives have been saved and injuries prevented thanks to a decrease in alcohol-related collisions and increased seatbelt use. - Control of infectious disease has been a fundamental goal since the beginning of public health in Canada.

There are twelve great public health achievements being celebrated in this CPHA centennial. To learn more, visit the great achievements web site at http://cpha100.ca/12-great-achievements/ and celebrate them all.

Sanofi pasteur milestones

Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of sanofi-aventis Group, is a company built on nearly a century of science. Our roots have grown out of Dr. John FitzGerald's pioneering vision and his collaboration with the University of Toronto. Among the Canadian milestones that we have celebrated are the following:

- Creation of Connaught Antitoxin Laboratories and University Farm in 1917 in Toronto, where sanofi pasteur is still located today. - In the early 1920s, worked with doctors Banting and Best to begin commercializing insulin; the site of the world's first large scale insulin production. - During the Second World War, Connaught Laboratories helped commercialize penicillin. - In 1954, Connaught supplied all polio virus fluids used in the mass American field trial of the Salk Polio vaccine, which went on to end the Polio epidemic in North America. - Developed a freeze-dried smallpox vaccine in the 1960s, which played a major role in the global eradication of smallpox. - The 1990s brought the development and manufacture of a new generation pertussis (or whooping cough vaccine) which consists of five specific components of the pertussis antigen. This was combined with diphtheria, tetanus, polio and Haemophilus influenzae type b (a form of bacterial meningitis) and helps ward off these diseases in more than 50 countries worldwide.