CELLTRION-HEALTHCARE

Celltrion Healthcare has partnered with a leading patient organisation, the European Federation of Crohn’s & Ulcerative Colitis Associations (EFCCA), to raise awareness of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) this World IBD Day (19 May 2023).

The campaign, Where’s CC? (Crohn’s and Colitis), aims to spark conversations about the impact of IBD across people’s lives and how these challenges vary between different age groups.

People are being encouraged to find the hidden CC characters and learn more about the unique challenges they have faced from being diagnosed with IBD to finding a treatment that works for them, at different stages of life, based on real-life patient insights.

Over ten million people worldwide are living with IBD¹, a group of conditions including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis (UC). IBD is most commonly diagnosed between the ages of 10 and 40¹, however it can appear at any point during people’s lives, with 10% to 15% of newly diagnosed cases of IBD being over the age of 60.²

Clinical research, education and understanding however do not reflect this, leaving groups of people feeling left behind and underrepresented. This can impact patient’s ability to benefit from innovative treatment options and high-quality care, impacting their quality of life and disease outcomes.

Visit www.WhereisCC.com to learn more about the campaign and help in shining a light on IBD by finding CC and learning more about their unique experiences.

Kevin Byoung Seo Choi, Senior Vice President and Head of Marketing Division at Celltrion Healthcare, said: “Every IBD patient, no matter their age, deserves to feel understood and have access to high quality care and effective, innovative treatments. Innovations in treatments, including advances in treatment administration that enable people to access at-home injectable treatment allows people to have an improved quality of life whilst managing their condition. We are extremely proud to launch the Where’s CC? campaign in collaboration with EFCCA for World IBD Day 2023 to improve understanding of IBD and the challenges that are associated with specific stages of life.

“Through our partnership with EFCCA, we have unparalleled opportunity to turn the tide in IBD and ensure no patient feels alone or left behind in their unique journey.”

Salvo Leone, EFCCA Chairman, commented: “IBD has no age, yet people living with IBD are facing challenges associated with their age that prevent them benefitting from the best treatment options.

“This World IBD Day, we are delighted to have partnered with Celltrion Healthcare to spotlight some of these challenges to raise awareness and improve care for IBD patients across the world. The Where’s CC? campaign includes important patient resources, and we encourage everyone to spread the word as we work towards a situation where all IBD patients can have a good quality of life.”

Molly O’Donoghue, UC patient, said: “Being diagnosed with UC at 15, I thought I would never be able to move away to university or go travelling with my friends. I was on a downward spiral, becoming depressed and isolated, until I found an at-home treatment that gave me a new freedom to do these things as I had always wanted.

“It is so important that people with IBD are not ashamed of their condition, and we talk about the challenges that come with learning to live with the condition at different stages of life. The Where’s CC? campaign is a brilliant way to raise awareness and help people to overcome the challenges that IBD brings.”

- ENDS -

Notes to Editors:

About Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)

IBD is an umbrella term used to describe conditions including Crohn’s disease and UC. Collectively, IBD impacts over ten million people worldwide.¹

IBD is a long-term condition and there may be times when the symptoms are severe, known as a flare-up, and times where there are no or few symptoms, known as remission. Symptoms can be debilitating if the condition is not well managed. These often include abdominal pain and cramping, diarrhoea, weight loss and extreme tiredness.³

Treatment for IBD can be transformative in patients’ lives, reducing the impact of the condition on their lives by minimising flare-up of symptoms and maintaining remission. In recent years, the increasing availability of new treatments has transformed IBD patient care. Innovations in treatments, including advances in treatment administration that enable people to access at-home injectable treatment (versus hospital-based treatment), allows people to have an improved quality of life whilst managing their condition.

About Celltrion Healthcare

Celltrion Healthcare is committed to delivering innovative and affordable medications to promote patients’ access to advanced therapies. Its products are manufactured at state-of-the-art mammalian cell culture facilities, designed and built to comply with the US FDA Current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) and the EU GMP guidelines. Celltrion Healthcare endeavours to offer high-quality cost-effective solutions through an extensive global network that spans more than 110 different countries. For more information, please visit: https://www.celltrionhealthcare.com

About EFCCA

The European Federation of Crohn's & Ulcerative Colitis Associations (EFCCA) represents 46 national Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis (collectively known as Inflammatory Bowel Disease or IBD) patient associations. We are an organization of people united in our commitment to improve the life of over 10 million people living with IBD worldwide (3.4 million in Europe alone) and to give them a louder voice and more visibility. For more information, please visit: https://efcca.org/

References

¹ EFCCA. What is IBD? Available at: https://efcca.org/content/what-ibd [Accessed May 2023]
² EFCCA. World IBD Day 2023. Available at: https://efcca.org/projects/world-ibd-day-2023 [Accessed May 2023]
³ NHS. Inflammatory bowel disease. Available at: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/inflammatory-bowel-disease/ [Accessed May 2023]

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