This donation allows Fundación TecSalud to carry on working to contain COVID-19.
 

Mexico City, 22 June 2020 – PRESS RELEASE
Through Santander Universities, Banco Santander has donated four million pesos to Fundación TecSalud with a view to developing, researching and applying the convalescent plasma protocol which, to this date, has helped more than 24 people infected with COVID-19 in the state of Nuevo León.

Arturo Cherbowski Lask, executive head of Santander Universities and senior executive vice president of Universia Mexico, stated that "in this time of pandemic, as a responsible bank, we have launched several initiatives, including this contribution to the development of a treatment for COVID-19 using plasma donated by recovered patients. We hope that the research's findings will represent a major milestone in the fight against the pandemic."

"The support to specific COVID-19 research protocols, such as convalescent plasma, helps us understand how the virus behaves when faced with different genetic profiles and, as such, stop its spread and use our findings to work towards a cure or vaccine. With this generous donation, we will be able to cover the cost of the protocol's tests and processes for at least 120 donors", explained Dr Juan Homar Páez Garza, head of Fundación TecSalud.

At the beginning of April, in cooperation with the state Health Ministry in Nuevo León, TecSalud started applying convalescent plasma as a treatment option for critical COVID-19 patients. In Mexico, this protocol has been submitted to and approved by the Federal Commission for the Protection against Health Risks (COFEPRIS).

When someone recovers from COVID-19, they develop antibodies that protect them against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, thus becoming a candidate for donating plasma without affecting their health but which may help save the lives of other patients.

This plasma undergoes thorough clinical analysis to confirm that it is free of other infectious agents and contains the right amount of antibodies.

With this donation through Santander Universities, Banco Santander joins TecSalud in its commitment to protecting people's health and extending the protocol's benefits.

Fundación TecSalud promotes healthcare in economically vulnerable communities by offering prevention, timely detection and good medical care services, with the help of volunteer doctors, students and resident doctors from the School of Medicine and Health Sciences at Tecnológico de Monterrey. Its main lines of action are: end-to-end medical centres, funds for medical and hospital care and the "Educación en Salud" programme.

-0-

ABOUT BANCO SANTANDER MEXICO (NYSE: BSMX BMV: BSMX)
Banco Santander Mexico, S.A., Institución de Banca Múltiple, Grupo Financiero Santander Mexico (Banco Santander Mexico) is one of the largest banks in Mexico. It offers a wide range of financial services and products, including retail and commercial banking and banking for individuals, financial advisory services and other investment activities. Banco Santander Mexico provides a financial services platform for the middle and upper segments of the population and small and medium-sized enterprises. It also provides end-to-end financial services for major multinational companies in Mexico. At 31 March 2020, Banco Santander Mexico had total assets amounting to 1,802,000 million pesos and had more than 18.4 million customers. With headquarters in Mexico City, the company operates 1,406 branches around the country and has 19,638 employees.

ABOUT TECSALUD
TecSalud is the Health System of Tecnológico de Monterrey, which integrates innovative clinical, educational and research services through its medical-academic centres. It comprises the School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Fundación TecSalud, San José and Zambrano Hellion hospitals, specialised institutes and associated institutions. TecSalud brings innovation and professional excellence to Mexico's healthcare. It has created a cutting-edge academic programme in health sciences, offers an innovative health system focused on the patient and conducts research focused on transforming the country's healthcare.

ABOUT TECNOLÓGICO DE MONTERREY
Tecnológico de Monterrey (http://www.tec.mx) is a not-for-profit private university founded in 1943 with the aim of training leaders with an enterprising spirit, human sensitivity and the skills to compete on the international stage. Tec de Monterrey has 26 campuses in 25 cities in Mexico, more than 65,000 undergraduate and post-graduate students and almost 7,000 lecturers. Also, over 27,000 secondary school students have enrolled in its campuses, with more than 2,500 teachers working at this level. The institution has been certified by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACSCOC) since 1950. It places 158th in the QS World University Rankings (2020), 3rd in the QS Latin America University Rankings (2020), and first in the QS Graduate Employability Rankings (2020) in Mexico (40th in the world). It is the top university in Mexico and fifth in Latin America in the Times Higher Education Latin America University Rankings (2019); and it is the only non-EU university among the Top Schools for Entrepreneurship (2020) according to the Princeton Review and Entrepreneur, placing eighth in undergraduate-level entrepreneurship programmes. It is the number one institution in the education sector of the MERCO Empresas Ranking for corporate reputation in Mexico.