Illinois is facing a global pandemic that is impacting our residents and businesses. In order to meet this challenge, Illinois’ innovative biotech companies and state-of-the art manufacturers are forming a partnership with the State of Illinois in order to ramp up efforts to study the virus and develop solutions to prevent, diagnose, and treat this deadly infectious disease.
The Illinois Manufacturers’ Association (IMA) and the Illinois Biotechnology Innovation Organization (iBIO) are leading the collaboration of private and public sector partners to erase barriers, increase efficiency, and ramp up production of these life-saving products such as medicine and therapies, personal protective devices, and medical equipment.
Dedicated Illinois companies from Illinois are stepping up in this time of need, many of whom are repurposing their facilities in order to meet critical demand.
The Essential Equipment Task Force will engage in two core functions – building a network of companies to manufacturer this essential equipment and spearheading a community response fund and medical supply donation program to support front-line healthcare workers and first responders combatting the COVID-19 pandemic. Task force members will provide industry expertise in vetting the production and procurement of medical products and protective gear, provide testing and manufacturing standards, and may provide an initial review of the validity and safety of medical products.
The IMA, a statewide organization representing nearly 4,000 companies and facilities, will coordinate manufacturing companies who are interested in donating or producing essential supplies needed by health care providers, first responders, and essential manufacturers. These include items such as N95 masks, gloves, gowns, ventilators, sanitizer, face masks, and more. All of these products will be used in Illinois to help our local communities. If you have the ability to manufacure these products, visit http://ima-net.org/covid-19
iBIO is the industry association that represents the 85,000 life science employees in Illinois. iBIO’s public charity, the iBIO Institute is launching a COVID-19 Response Fund to coordinate state, corporate, private, and philanthropic donations to make direct purchases of protective medical products to support Illinois based healthcare workers and first responders. As the life sciences trade association in Illinois, iBIO is uniquely positioned to leverage corporate leadership from our membership and access competitive, best in class purchasing. For more information on the COVID-19 Response Fund and to donate unused medical products, visit http://ibio.org/covid-19
Medical products and equipment from IMA’s program and iBIO’s COVID-19 Response Fund and Donation Program will be sent to the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) who will distribute products to the Illinois healthcare ecosystem to ensure that the supply is equitable. Hospitals and health care organizations should direct all requests for materials to the IEMA.