Press Release

München, June 15, 2020 – Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (Nasdaq: VRTX) today announced that the Vertex Foundation, a nonprofit charitable foundation, will donate 50,000 € to Tafel Deutschland, the national association of food banks and pantries in Germany, to support their response to COVID-19.

Front line organizations across Germany have been severely impacted by COVID-19. They are facing an increased demand for support while their operational capacity is strained. Their network has seen challenges on its logistics, a decrease in traditional food donations as well as many volunteers who are staying home because they are at risk. Yet, they are working tirelessly to get food to 1.6 million people throughout the country who need it most.

This funding will help the network to adapt to the pandemic for their clients, for example, by developing home delivery and contactless supply. This donation is part of the Vertex Foundation’s $5 million global commitment to support the COVID-19 pandemic response, which also included double-matching employees’ charitable donations to eligible organizations on the front lines. The Foundation’s funds will support organizations that are providing emergency relief and assistance in the global communities where Vertex employees live and work, with a focus on providing health care and supplies and support for vulnerable populations.

“On behalf of the Tafel network, I would like to thank Vertex Pharmaceuticals for the generous donation. Thanks to this support, we can continue to collect food and at the same time help people facing financial difficulties. The poorest people are being hit disproportionately hard by the coronavirus, and unfortunately, we have already seen many new faces at our food pantries, whom we also very much want to help,” commented Jochen Brühl, chairman of Tafel Deutschland.

“Tafel Deutschland makes an indispensable contribution for people in need. In times like these, it is particularly important to us that this support for people in need can be maintained — at the same time we want to see the users of the Tafel, as well as the volunteers protected. We are therefore very pleased to be able to support alternative, contactless supply chains for the Tafel through the Vertex Foundation,” says Andreas Kopp, General Manager at Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Germany).

About Tafel Deutschland e.V.

Tafel Deutschland e.V. is the umbrella organization of the German food bank system with more than 60,000 volunteers and 949 foodbanks. With volunteers committing more than 20 million hours annually for the Tafel, the organization seeks to reduce food waste in Germany through reallocation to socially and economically disadvantaged populations. These populations include 1.6 million people, including over half a million children and youth. Visit https://www.tafel.de/ to learn more.

About the Vertex Foundation
The Vertex Foundation is a nonprofit charitable foundation. It seeks to improve the lives of people with serious diseases and in its communities through education, innovation and health programs. Established in 2017, the Foundation is a long-term source of charitable giving and is part of Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ corporate giving commitment.

About Vertex
Vertex is a global biotechnology company that invests in scientific innovation to create medicines for people with serious diseases. The company has multiple approved medicines that treat cystic fibrosis (CF) – a rare, life- threatening genetic disease – and has several ongoing clinical and research programs in CF. Beyond CF, Vertex has a robust pipeline of investigational small molecule medicines in other serious diseases where it has deep insight into causal human biology, including pain, alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency and APOL1-mediated kidney diseases. In addition, Vertex has a rapidly expanding pipeline of genetic and cell therapies for diseases such as sickle cell disease, beta thalassemia, Duchenne muscular dystrophy and type 1 diabetes mellitus.

Founded in 1989 in Cambridge, Mass., Vertex's global headquarters is now located in Boston's Innovation District and its international headquarters is in London, UK. Additionally, the company has research and development sites and commercial offices in North America, Europe, Australia and Latin America. Vertex is consistently recognized as one of the industry's top places to work, including 10 consecutive years on Science magazine's Top Employers list and top five on the 2019 Best Employers for Diversity list by Forbes.

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