- Up to a million bottles of INEOS hand sanitiser have started being delivered to hospitals across Southern France, just ten days after the plan was announced.
- The initial deliveries are going from the INEOS production plant at Lavera to 25 hospitals in Southern France, starting with Marseille and Nice
- INEOS is now producing almost 300 different products that are being used in drugs, testing kits, ventilators and protective clothing in the fight against the Coronavirus and the US Dept of Homeland Security has described many as being “critical to national resilience” from basic sanitation through to the search for a vaccine.
- Sir Jim Ratcliffe, founder and chairman of INEOS, says, “Getting the hand sanitiser into production in just ten days was a huge team effort. We knew there was a massive shortage of hand sanitisers across France and that speed was crucial. We believe these INEOS sanitisers will play a key part in the fight against the virus, helping protect Hospital front line staff and vulnerable people across the country.”
INEOS, one of the largest manufacturing companies in the world, has today announced that it has started delivering one million bottles of hand sanitiser each month to hospitals across Southern France.
INEOS announced that it would bring its production plant at Lavéra in France online in just ten days and that deliveries would start immediately afterwards. It has repeated this in Herne Germany and Newton Aycliffe in the UK and last week it announced a fourth facility in North East France at Étain.
Working closely with hospitals, as of today, INEOS hand sanitisers are being delivered to 25 hospitals across Southern France including the supply of almost all Marseille hospitals needs and half of Nice’s. Wider distribution will follow as the plant reaches full capacity.
INEOS is first focusing on meeting the needs of front line medical and care services before making “pocket bottle” hand sanitisers available for people’s personal use. These will all be produced to World Health Organisation specifications.
Hand to mouth contamination is one of the main ways that the Coronavirus infects people and there is a critical shortage of hand sanitisers across France and Europe.
All of INEOS' nine polymer and chemical divisions are currently supplying products for the medical and pharmaceutical industries and many of them are now being used in the fight for COVID-19 vaccines and treatments.
INEOS produces chemicals that go into antibiotics, paracetamol, anti-inflammatories, anti-virals, aspirin and the reagent chemicals that go into testing kits. We’re producing the plastics going into medical equipment, face masks, ventilators, sterile gloves, eye visors and our acetonitrile is used in essential pharmaceutical analysis in the procedures necessary to find a vaccine. The list goes on and on.
The US Department of Homeland Security has even described INEOS Acetonitrile, IPA and Acetone as “Critical to ensure National Resilience” in their CV-19 response.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe, founder and chairman of INEOS adds, “INEOS is a company with enormous resources and manufacturing skills. We are not only planning to produce a million bottles of hand sanitiser a month in the South of France but the same again at similar facilities in Germany, UK and Etain in Northern France. If we can find other ways to help in the Coronavirus battle, we remain absolutely committed to playing our part”.
For more information please go to our website: www.ineoshandgel.com
ENDS
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Media Contacts
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NOTES TO EDITOR
About INEOS
INEOS is one of the world’s largest chemicals companies and the 50th largest business in the world, employing around 22,000 people across 183 sites in 26 countries. It is a privately-owned company with sales in 2018 of $60bn and EBITDA of $7bn. In addition to its growth in petrochemicals, it has acquired oil & gas fields in the UK, Denmark and Norway and is a top 10 company and the biggest private enterprise operating in the North Sea.
INEOS is the leading European producer of the two key raw materials needed for sanitisers – isopropyl alcohol (IPA) and ethanol and has built 3 factories that will produce hand sanitiser with a fourth recently announced. These bottles will be given free to the hospitals then will be made available to the public. These will be produced according to World Health Organisation specifications.
About Marseille and Nice Hospitals
The Marseille Hospital was the first hospital to receive free hand sanitiser from INEOS in France which will help to keep our front-line workers safe in the fight against COVID-19. The first product was delivered on Friday 10th April. The first-hand sanitiser delivered free of charge to the staff. We will continue to supply all their needs, 5300 litres per month until the end of the pandemic.
Nice hospital has also received hand sanitiser free of charge, to meet a shortfall in their needs. INEOS will supply them every week to meet their need, 3700 litres per month.
It will produce 1 million bottles a month from each of its four sites, produced to World Health Organisation specifications.
One of the hospital staff on hand to receive the INEOS hand sanitiser at Marseille was Doctor Pierre Bertault-Peres, Head Pharmacist of the University Hospitals of Marseille, who said:
"We are facing an increased demand for hand sanitisers. Making sure hands are sterile with a hydro-alcoholic solution is important for front line workers and so consumption has exploded. Fortunately, we have a company like INEOS mobilized with us to allow us to ensure the demand that we have from all hospital departments. The fact that INEOS makes hydro-alcoholic solutions available in France and in Europe is a huge plus, as demand will remain significant even after the confinement has ended."
When receiving the hand sanitiser, Doctor Rémy Collomp, Head of Pharmacy and Sterilization - CHU Nice said:
"The use of hydro-alcoholic solutions is one of the major ways for us to break the chain of contagion since the virus is mainly transmitted by hands. We need this product for healthcare professionals who use it very regularly. We are facing very low stock problems since we have multiplied by 5 our need since the beginning of the health crisis. The product is very effective and acts quickly on the virus. Hence the importance of having an industrialist like INEOS who is capable of manufacturing a quality product in large quantities and who makes it available to healthcare professionals who are on the front line."