UKRAINE WAR BUSINESS CONTINUITY PULSE - MARCH 15, 2022
Dear Customer Colleagues,
As the war continues in Ukraine, Syneos Health continues to stand alongside all of those impacted by this crisis. Our focus remains on the care of our employees and their families, safety for clinical trial participants and sites and support for our customers.
Our cross-functional Business Continuity Team, comprised of employees from operations, finance, legal and communications, among other groups in Syneos Health, continues to monitor the evolving crisis. This team has worked tirelessly, since the war began, to understand the impact of economic sanctions on customer studies, maintain operations where feasible, deliver humanitarian aid to employees and their families, and keep customers informed of the evolving situation through regular and ongoing communications.
EMPLOYEES AND HUMANITARIAN EFFORTS
Syneos Health’s main priority continues to be the safety and wellbeing of our employees and their families; we have been supporting them through financial, logistical, technology and employee assistance. Additionally, we’ve made an emergency donation to the International Committee of the Red Cross and are evaluating future relief donations.
Our global employee community continues to express concern about the ongoing crisis and is looking for more ways to help. For colleagues who want to donate from personal funds, Syneos Health has identified and shared details on reputable humanitarian aid organizations. Additionally, we’ve provided a targeted volunteer option in Poland, Hungary, Latvia, Romania and Slovakia that will allow employees in these countries to take time off to volunteer with humanitarian aid agencies supporting refugees.
RECOMMENDATION REGARDING STUDIES IN RUSSIA
Syneos Health has been closely monitoring the situation in Russia and we continue to focus on the implications of economic sanctions on clinical study conduct. We are actively identifying actual and potential disruptions to supply chain that could hinder availability of investigational products/clinical study supplies, and reports of potential disruptions to internet connectivity and cybersecurity. As economic sanctions and supply chain disruptions have increasing impact, we anticipate a decreased ability of sites and investigators in Russia to participate in clinical studies.
Based on our current assessments, Syneos Health is recommending that Sponsors immediately discontinue all research participants from their clinical studies and promptly start closing all activities in Russia. We arrived at this difficult recommendation after careful consideration of the overall environment in Russia and various legal, financial, business, operations and healthcare factors. We believe our recommendation to be in the best interests of patients, research sites and customers. Our project teams will reach out to each customer directly regarding this recommendation.
CYBERSECURITY
As noted in previous communications, Syneos Health takes information security seriously. We are continuing to monitor and evaluate the impact of a potential disruption to internet services in Russia and are focused on protecting information. We have administrative, physical and technical safeguards that are designed to protect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of client and corporate data. Additionally, we utilize 24x7 event monitoring and response capabilities that enable us to respond, as appropriate, to cybersecurity threats.
BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLANNING CADENCE
We are regularly updating our Ukraine Resource Center. Please visit our Resource Center to learn more.
Thank you for your partnership during these times of crisis.
