Feb. 29, 2024 Together with Patients
【In this leap year, February 29 is Rare Disease Day】Our Osaka Head Office Lobby illuminated with RDD’s symbolic colors
Rare Disease Day (RDD) is an annual international event held on the last day of February with the aim of improving quality of life for patients through better diagnosis and treatment. Originally launched in Sweden in 2008, RDD selected February 29, a leap day, as a symbol of rarity
Approximately 300 million people in the world suffer from over 6,000 different types of rare and intractable diseases. In Japan alone, there are nearly one million patients recognized as having designated intractable diseases. However, limited progress has been made in therapeutic and drug discovery research for many of these conditions due to the small number of patients per disease and their complex pathogenic mechanisms.
The first step in supporting RDD is raising awareness. Since 2017, Sumitomo Pharma has been supporting the activities of RDD Japan aiming to increase public awareness of rare and difficult-to-treat diseases. Furthermore, we have illuminated a section of the lobby at our Osaka Head Office with RDD's symbolic colors (blue, green, and pink) this year to help more people become aware of this initiative.
Additionally, we have created opportunities within our organization to listen to the voices of patients with rare disease and their families, sharing their experiences and insights throughout our employees.
In this way, we encourage our employees to thoroughly consider what each one of us can do and what actions we can take from the perspective of our core value, "Patient First." Through such endeavors, we aim to contribute to realizing the betterment of healthcare and fuller lives of patients worldwide.
Sumitomo Pharma's Osaka headquarters lobby was illuminated with RDD’s symbolic colors (blue, green, pink)