AstraZeneca provides medicines to patients at Grace Hill Neighborhood Health Centers

AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) announced today that it is providing medicines at no cost to qualifying patients at Grace Hill Neighborhood Health Centers, Inc. in St. Louis.

AstraZeneca's partnership with Grace Hill is an expansion of its AZ&Me™ Prescription Savings program that provides medicines at no cost to health facilities around the country. Grace Hill is the sixth facility in Missouri to join the program.

For more than 100 years, Grace Hill has provided primary and preventive healthcare in St. Louis.  In 2009, Grace Hill provided health services to more than 41,000 patients at its six health center locations in St. Louis. Nearly 60 percent of these patients did not have health insurance, and more than 90 percent had incomes under the federal poverty level.

"At Grace Hill Neighborhood Health Centers, our mission is to serve our neighbors by providing high quality healthcare," said Alan O. Freeman, Grace Hill president and CEO. "Working with AstraZeneca will help us reduce costly access barriers facing many of our patients today."

The local chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) praised the collaboration, saying the resources available at Grace Hill are of critical importance to patients.

"With the downturn in the economy, NAMI's HelpLine has been receiving an increase in calls from people who are uninsured," said Jacqueline Lukitsch, executive director at NAMI in St. Louis. "It is good to know that NAMI will be able to refer uninsured patients to Grace Hill for treatment and patient assistance."

In 2009, AstraZeneca provided more than $15.2 million in savings to more than 11,190 patients in Missouri under its prescription savings programs – known as AZ&Me. Nationally, the company helped more than 507,000 patients save $679.6 million on their medicines.

"Working together, we will help Missourians access the medicines they need," said Jennifer McGovern, director, patient assistance programs, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP. "AstraZeneca is dedicated to improving the health of our communities by collaborating with organizations that share our commitment to patients."