Lek volunteers in Slovenia offering a helping hand for 13 consecutive years

  • Novartis, a part of which is Lek, has organised in Slovenia, for the 13th year running, Community Partnership Days as part of the global Novartis corporate volunteering initiative. 
  • 600 associates from Novartis sites in Ljubljana, Mengeš, Lendava and Prevalje are participating in more than 20 activities, dedicating their time to helping and spending time with more than 700 people.  
  • Over 13 years of volunteering, Novartis associates in Slovenia, in partnership with the local community, have dedicated more than 36,000 working hours and have helped more than 12,000 people. 
11. 5. 2017

Voluntary activities organized in Slovenia by Novartis as part of the global Community Partnership Day initiative, are fully underway. From April 13 to May 26, the employees will be dedicating some of their working time to helping individuals and various organisations across Slovenia. They will take part in a number of activities and spend time together with the elderly, organise trips for children with special needs, maintain the surroundings of schools and other institutions, collect food and much more. 

»Volunteering has been on Lek’s annual calendar for the 13th consecutive year. Again and again, this partnership brings us tremendous satisfaction when we assist those organisations that need a few additional helping hands, organising fun activities for those in residence or simply offering companionship as a friend and listener. It is of particular value, that we, the associates, have the opportunity to dedicate some of our working time to volunteering as such activities enrich ourselves as well. We are pleased that our volunteering has resonated across Slovenian society as other companies in Slovenia are now following our example by organising similar activities,« said Katarina Klemenc, Head Corporate Communications at Lek.

Novartis in Slovenia kicked-off its volunteering activities on April 13 with the Kolpa river and Kolpa valley  clean-up operation, continuing with maintenance of the SAFY holiday resort in Pacug, a blood donation session in Lendava and planting trees around Logatec, where the employees planted 800 beech saplings. The activities will be continuing until May 26, with a blood donation session in Ljubljana and visiting the residents from the Ljubljana, Mengeš, Lendava and Prevalje homes for the elderly. Lek associates will lend a helping hand also to individuals and organisations who need support: they will organise a sports tournament for the residents of the Occupational Activity Center INCE Mengeš; take the children with special needs from the Roje Primary School on a boat trip on the Ljubljanica river; help maintain the grounds and premises of the Mali Dom in Šiška (Dolfka Boštjančič Training, Occupation and Care Center), the Red Cross Slovenia’s health resort in Debeli rtič, the Special Education Center Janez Levec in Dečkova street in Ljubljana, the Animal Shelter in Ljubljana and the SAFY holiday resort in Kranjska Gora; organise a sports day for the children at the Lendava Bilingual Primary School II; cook lunch for the people at the Altra Center in Prevalje and, in cooperation with the humanitarian association Slovenian Philanthropy, visit Ljubljana with the asylum seekers from the Asylum Center in Logatec and spend a pleasant day with them. They will also paint a log cabin belonging to the Fishing Club Bistrica Domžale; collect food and give a helping hand to one of the Prevalje site associates by cleaning the surroundings of his house. 

Over 13 years of volunteering, Lek associates have dedicated more than 36,000 hours to the Community Partnership days, helping more than 60 different organisations and more than 12,000 people.  

With the Volunteering Month, the associates of Novartis Slovenia are joining more than 27,000 Novartis associates around the world who, as part of the global Community Partnership Day, are lending a helping hand as volunteers in their local communities. 

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Lek, a Sandoz company, is one of the key pillars of the second-largest generic pharmaceutical company globally. Its role within Sandoz is to act as: a leading global development center for technologically demanding products and technologies; a key global manufacturing center for active pharmaceutical ingredients and medicines; a competence center for the development of vertically integrated products; a Sandoz competence center in the field of development and manufacturing of biosimilar active ingredients and products; a supply center for the markets of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), South East Europe (SEE) and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), and is responsible for marketing and sales of Sandoz products on the Slovenian market. For further information, please visit www.lek.si.

Sandoz is a global leader in generic and biosimilar pharmaceuticals. As a division of the Novartis Group, our purpose is to discover new ways to improve and extend people’s lives. We contribute to society’s ability to support growing healthcare needs by pioneering novel approaches to help people around the world access high-quality medicine. Our portfolio of approximately 1000 molecules, covering all major therapeutic areas, accounted for 2016 sales of USD 10.1 billion. In 2016, our products reached more than 500 million patients and we aspire to reach one billion. Sandoz is headquartered in Holzkirchen, in Germany’s Greater Munich area.
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Novartis provides innovative healthcare solutions that address the evolving needs of patients and societies. Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Novartis offers a diversified portfolio to best meet these needs: innovative medicines, cost-saving generic and biosimilar pharmaceuticals and eye care. Novartis has leading positions globally in each of these areas. In 2016, the Group achieved net sales of USD 48.5 billion, while R&D throughout the Group amounted to approximately USD 9.0 billion. Novartis Group companies employ approximately 118,000 full-time-equivalent associates. Novartis products are sold in approximately 155 countries around the world. For more information, please visit http://www.novartis.com.

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This press release contains statements and conclusions based on projections of Lek’s future business operations. These estimates are derived from the best information currently available. In case these forecasts prove unreliable, the actual results could prove different from those projected.

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For additional information contact:
Katarina Klemenc
Corporate Communications 
Lek Pharmaceuticals d. d.
Phone: +386 1 580 22 43
Fax: +386 1 580 24 32
katarina.klemenc@sandoz.com