Biogen Releases 2019 Corporate Responsibility Report Demonstrating Continuous Progress Across Environmental, Social and Governance Metrics

Continued to improve absolute environmental performance across energy, water and waste metrics while growing the business in 2019; has remained carbon neutral for six years in a row

Advanced health equity and diversity goals; 46% of Biogen’s director-level positions and above are held by women globally

Expanded Global Reporting Initiative report to include disclosures aligned with Sustainable Accounting Standards Board guidelines

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 20, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Biogen Inc. (Nasdaq: BIIB) today released its 2019 Corporate Responsibility Report that demonstrated continuous progress across several environmental, social and governance (ESG) metrics. The report outlines the company’s long-term commitment to corporate responsibility by taking a multi-stakeholder approach to business decisions, creating an inclusive culture, reducing its environmental footprint and increasing reporting transparency on ESG issues.

“In 2019 we continued to advance our health equity and diversity goals while improving our environmental performance across energy, water and waste metrics, and we are striving to do more,” said Michel Vounatsos, Chief Executive Officer at Biogen. “Today, as we collectively face the challenges posed by the global COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of developing and assuring access to new therapies for patients in need is more evident than ever. For us, that includes our aim of accelerating innovation, and at the same time reducing our environmental footprint and contributing to a more sustainable future for all of our stakeholders.”

As the first company in the life sciences industry to be carbon neutral, Biogen has continued to be recognized as an environmental leader, and is committing to bring its climate programs in line with Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) targets to keep the global temperature rise to below 1.5˚Celsius. In 2019 the company realized an absolute reduction of water use by nearly 3 percent, hazardous and nonhazardous waste by more than 7 percent, supply chain emissions by 3 percent and non-renewable energy by 1.6 percent, all while increasing full year total revenues by 7 percent versus the prior year.

Among other report highlights, Biogen advanced health equity goals for its clinical trials to help better meet the needs of underserved patients globally and continued to offer its early access program to treat patients. The company also made progress towards its goals for diversity and inclusion in the workplace, with nearly 1/3 of director-level positions and above held by people from racial and ethnic minority groups in the U.S. as of December 31, 2019.

Building on the company’s 2019 community engagement efforts, the Biogen Foundation committed $10 million for COVID-19 relief, including $4 million to non-profit organizations and health systems in Massachusetts, to address urgent needs, expand testing and help ease the burden on health systems across Massachusetts, North Carolina, the U.S. and the rest of the world. For several non-profit organizations and health systems, the Biogen Foundation’s support was the first to be received and helped catalyze significant additional funds. Biogen employees have also donated more than $300,000 to non-profit organizations and are volunteering in their communities.

Our Corporate Responsibility Report can be found by visiting our Year in Review website.

About Biogen
At Biogen, our mission is clear: we are pioneers in neuroscience. Biogen discovers, develops and delivers worldwide innovative therapies for people living with serious neurological and neurodegenerative diseases as well as related therapeutic adjacencies. One of the world’s first global biotechnology companies, Biogen was founded in 1978 by Charles Weissmann, Heinz Schaller, Kenneth Murray and Nobel Prize winners Walter Gilbert and Phillip Sharp. Today Biogen has the leading portfolio of medicines to treat multiple sclerosis, has introduced the first approved treatment for spinal muscular atrophy, commercializes biosimilars of advanced biologics and is focused on advancing research programs in multiple sclerosis and neuroimmunology, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, neuromuscular disorders, movement disorders, ophthalmology, immunology, neurocognitive disorders, acute neurology and pain.

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