Bayer and Direct Relief Partnership Expands Access to Contraceptives with New Grant Initiative

Bayer and the humanitarian organization Direct Relief today announced a new grant program designed to help address financial and educational barriers to contraceptives, enabling women to make powerful decisions about their families and their futures with the help of their healthcare providers.

Direct Relief has identified four health clinics that will be awarded $40,000 each to develop programs that expand access to contraceptives for underserved or underinsured women in their communities. The clinics ? located in Indianapolis, Ind., Little Rock, Ark., Pittsburgh, Pa. and Wilkes-Barre, Pa. ? will implement programs that address the most pressing needs in their communities, such as providing transportation to clinics, increasing virtual and telehealth options for reproductive healthcare, and offering culturally grounded and/or Spanish language education materials for women.

These grants are part of a larger Bayer initiative called We're for Her, which includes a 3-year partnership with Direct Relief that helps address access at its core through the donation of Bayer intrauterine devices (IUDs), grants provided by Direct Relief to health clinics around the country, and educational materials to healthcare facilities.

"The We're for Her initiative is a total package approach to increasing access to contraceptives," said Yesmean Wahdan, M.D., U.S. Medical Affairs at Bayer. "This new grant program from Direct Relief will enable health clinics to create resources that meet the unique needs of women in their communities, allowing them to make educated decisions about contraceptives with their healthcare providers that will impact the trajectory of their lives."

Clinics receiving Direct Relief grants include Adagio Health (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Maternal and Family Health Services (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.), Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky (Indianapolis, Ind.), and Planned Parenthood Great Plains (Little Rock, Ark.). Each nonprofit clinic submitted a proposal for a program that would help increase access to family planning services for their most vulnerable patients. Funding to the clinics was awarded in November and programs will be implemented over the course of the next year.

"The nonprofit health providers receiving this funding from Direct Relief already provide high-quality reproductive health services for their patients, and this support, generously provided by Bayer, will allow them to continue to expand these essential services," said Paulina Ospina, Direct Relief's Associate Director of Maternal and Child Health. "Direct Relief is grateful to these awardees that care for all patients, regardless of circumstances, and for Bayer's leadership that supports comprehensive contraceptive choice."

The We're for Her initiative is aligned with Bayer's goal to provide 100 million women across the world with access to contraception by 2030. Since 2001, Bayer has provided more than 277,000 IUDs globally for women in need. Additionally, the Bayer US Patient Assistance Foundation helps eligible patients afford Bayer prescriptions, including IUDs, Kyleena^® (levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system) 19.5mg, Mirena^® (levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system) 52mg, and Skyla^® (levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system) 13.5mg.

Bayer Women's Healthcare has long been committed to the reproductive health of all women? from products and education to championing access to contraceptives. Bayer offers a variety of birth control options to help meet the diverse needs of women. Bayer takes pride in increasing the availability of family planning resources and education to women and health care providers.

To learn more about the We're for Her initiative, visit www.wereforheraccess.com.

INDICATION FOR KYLEENA (levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system) 19.5mg

Kyleena® is a hormone-releasing IUD that prevents pregnancy for up to 5 years.

INDICATIONS FOR MIRENA (levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system) 52mg

Mirena® is a hormone-releasing IUD that prevents pregnancy for up to 6 years. Mirena also treats heavy periods for up to 5 years in women who choose intrauterine contraception.

INDICATION FOR SKYLA (levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system) 13.5mg

Skyla® a hormone-releasing IUD that prevents pregnancy for up to 3 years.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION FOR KYLEENA, MIRENA, AND SKYLA

• If you have an untreated genital infection, get infections easily, or have certain cancers, don't use Kyleena, Mirena or Skyla. Less than 1% of users get a serious pelvic infection called pelvic inflammatory disease (PID).
• If you have persistent pelvic or stomach pain, excessive bleeding after placement, or if Kyleena, Mirena or Skyla comes out, tell your healthcare provider (HCP). If Kyleena, Mirena or Skyla comes out, use back-up birth control. Kyleena, Mirena or Skyla may go into or through the wall of the uterus and cause other problems.
• Pregnancy while using Kyleena, Mirena or Skyla is uncommon but can be life threatening and may result in loss of pregnancy or fertility.
• Ovarian cysts may occur but usually disappear.
• Bleeding and spotting may increase in the first 3 to 6 months and remain irregular. Periods over time usually become shorter, lighter, or may stop.

Kyleena, Mirena and Skyla do not protect against HIV or STDs.

Only you and your HCP can decide if Kyleena, Mirena or Skyla is right for you. Kyleena, Mirena and Skyla are available by prescription only.

For important risk and use information about Kyleena, please see the accompanying Full Prescribing Information

For important risk and use information about Mirena, please see the accompanying Full Prescribing Information

For important risk and use information about Skyla, please see the accompanying Full Prescribing Information

About Direct Relief

A humanitarian organization committed to improving the health and lives of people affected by poverty or emergencies, Direct Relief delivers lifesaving medical resources throughout the world to communities in need?without regard to politics, religion, or ability to pay. For more information, please visit https://www.DirectRelief.org.

About Bayer

Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the life science fields of health care and nutrition. Its products and services are designed to benefit people by supporting efforts to overcome the major challenges presented by a growing and aging global population. At the same time, the Group aims to increase its earning power and create value through innovation and growth. Bayer is committed to the principles of sustainable development, and the Bayer brand stands for trust, reliability and quality throughout the world. In fiscal 2019, the Group employed around 104,000 people and had sales of 43.5 billion euros. Capital expenditures amounted to 2.9 billion euros, R&D expenses to 5.3 billion euros. For more information, go to www.bayer.us.

Bayer, the Bayer Cross, Mirena, Klyeena and Skyla are registered trademarks of Bayer.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Bayer Group or subgroup management. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in Bayer's public reports which are available on the Bayer website at www.bayer.com. The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.

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