Protecting women and families

At Ferring, we believe everyone going through childbirth should have access to quality care and treatment to help them build healthy families. This is why we are working to reduce the devastating impact that post-partum haemorrhage (PPH or excessive bleeding after childbirth) has on women and families around the world.

PPH causes tens of thousands of deaths each year

PPH is the leading direct cause of maternal death worldwide, causing approximately 70,000 women to die each year.^1,2 The majority (99%) of these deaths occur in low- and lower-middle income countries, where the death of a mother is known to have a particularly severe social and economic impact on her surviving children, her family, and her community.²

Most PPH deaths are preventable

Evidence from the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that most of these deaths could be avoided with effective preventative treatment.³ The challenge is that the standard of care for PPH requires cold-chain distribution to ensure it is effective,^4,5 which is not always possible in the countries where the burden of PPH is greatest.

Collaborating to find new ways to protect people and families

Ferring developed heat-stable carbetocin which does not require cold-chain distribution and storage.

The WHO, Ferring, and MSD for Mothers are collaborating to improve outcomes for women following childbirth. The CHAMPION* clinical trial, the largest ever randomized study in the prevention of PPH, was conducted by the WHO with funding from MSD for Mothers, using Ferring’s heat-stable carbetocin. Results of the CHAMPION trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine were announced in 2018, see here.

Ferring is now working to make heat-stable carbetocin available to prevent PPH in women in low- and lower-middle income countries, following regulatory approval.   

At Ferring, we believe that everyone going through childbirth should have access to quality care and treatments, no matter where they live.

*Carbetocin Haemorrhage Prevention

References

1. Say L, et al. Global causes of maternal death: a WHO systematic analysis. The Lancet Global Health. 2014; 2(6):e323-33. Available at: https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/langlo/PIIS2214-109X(14)70227-X.pdf Last accessed: October 2019.
2. World Health Organization. Priority diseases and reasons for inclusion. Postpartum haemorrhage. Available at: http://www.who.int/medicines/areas/priority_medicines/Ch6_16PPH.pdf  Last accessed: October 2019.
3. World Health Organization. WHO recommendations: Uterotonics for the prevention of postpartum haemorrhage. Published 2018. Available at https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/277276/9789241550420-eng.pdf?ua=1&ua=1 Last accessed: October 2019.
4. Widmer M, et al. Room temperature stable carbetocin for the prevention of postpartum haemorrhage during the third stage of labour in women delivering vaginally: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. Trials 2016;17(1):143.
5. Torloni MR, et al. Quality of Oxytocin Available in Low and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review of the Literature (Systematic Review on Quality of Oxytocin). An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology 2016;123(13):2076-2086.

©Joni Kabana Photography/Concept Foundation/Ferring Pharmaceuticals/MSD for Mothers