Tech giant Google and French pharmaceutical company Sanofi are teaming up to establish an innovation lab that will combine their capabilities.
More specifically, the lab will apply technology and analytics to Sanofi’s real-world database. The aim is to better understand diseases and which treatments work for patients, resulting in Sanofi being able to offer more personalized approaches to treatment.
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“We stand on the forefront of a new age for biology and human health, with the opportunity to transform healthcare through partnerships with pioneering technology and analytics companies,” said Ameet Nathwani, Sanofi’s chief digital officer, CMO and executive vice president of medical, in a statement. “Combining Sanofi’s biologic innovations and scientific data with Google’s industry-leading capabilities, from cloud computing to state-of-the-art artificial intelligence, we aspire to give people more control over their health and accelerate the discovery of new therapies.”
In addition to this work, the two organizations will apply artificial intelligence across datasets to forecast sales and inform marketing and supply chain efforts.
Plus, Sanofi will harness Google Cloud Platform to modernize its infrastructure, migrate existing business applications to the Google Cloud and build an analytics platform to glean insights from its data, according to a Google blog post.
This isn’t the first time Google and Sanofi have joined forces.
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They’re working together on the Women & Access to Health Daring Circle, which aims to improve and promote women’s access to health by uncovering technologies that are addressing the issue. The partnership is led by Sanofi and insurer AXA with support from Google and BNP Paribas. Startups could apply to join the Daring Circle and receive mentorship, funding and more, though applications closed in February.
And in 2016, Sanofi and Verily, the life sciences arm of Google parent company Alphabet, formed a $500 million joint venture focused on diabetes. Called Onduo, the JV combines devices, software, medicine and professional care to enable better disease management.
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