We recently informed you about what measures we had taken in relation to the pandemic.
In the meantime we have been in discussion with many of you. I am very grateful for the positive feedback we have received and your understanding and cooperation to deal with this extremely difficult situation. I highly value your partnership and can assure you that the entire proderm Team will work extremely hard to continue to provide you with the best and most reliable service.
Today I would like to provide a brief update on where we stand today and how this affects current and future studies.
- First and foremost, all staff are healthy and have adapted fast to working remotely where possible.
- We have had one member of staff tested positive for SARS-Cov-2 on return from skiing. But as they went into quarantine directly after their vacation, a cross-infection amongst proderm staff members was prevented and luckily, the individual only experienced mild symptoms and has now fully recovered.
- By way of precaution, we sent any staff with even the slightest suspicion of SARS-Cov-2 infection into quarantine until proven negative.
- Thanks to initiating safety precautions early on, our dedicated staff, reliable volunteers and a great deal of luck we were able to finalize a major ongoing trial according to protocol and to continue other ongoing studies.
- We are now able to start a small number of new studies by implementing the following safety measures: keeping a distance of 2 m (and/or using physical barriers like plexiglass), staff AND volunteers wearing facial masks, mandatory hand disinfection and regular disinfection of door nobs, etc. Typical studies that qualify are low in subject numbers, do not involve close-up examinations, etc.
- We have also jump started our capabilities for remote trials and remote examinations. This includes questionnaires, self-assessments, application controls and remote dermatological assessments. More specific information will be published soon.
- With reduced study activities some of our employees have entered short-time work. We thereby prevented lay-offs and can go back to full scale as soon as study activities can safely be resumed at a more normal pace.
With this externally enforced break there is often time to think ahead. We are pleased to be in discussion with so many of you to plan future projects. This crisis is truly bigger than anything most of us have experienced in our lifetime. I nevertheless feel that we should already look ahead to determine future needs. I therefore invite you to use this time to discuss your current and future study needs with us.
We share with you the hope that we can soon approach a less restricted life and workstyle and wish you, your family, friends and colleagues all the best.
