SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — The University
of California, San Francisco (UCSF) has signed an alliance with
international pharmaceutical company Sanofi (EURONEXT: SAN and
NYSE: SNY) to share expertise in diabetes research and identify
drug targets that could lead to new therapies for both type 1 and
type 2 diabetes.
The $3.1 million collaboration will bring together scientists in
three UCSF labs with deep understanding of the biology of beta
cells – insulin-producing cells that are destroyed in type 1
diabetes and often produce too little insulin in type 2 –
with Sanofi researchers who are experienced in developing potential
drug candidates into actual therapies.
“This is a true partnership between scientists with very
different strengths,” said Matthias Hebrok, PhD, director of the
UCSF Diabetes Center. “UCSF is known for its deep understanding of
the underlying biology of diabetes, while Sanofi has great
expertise in screening compounds, identifying which molecules have
potential, and moving them along to develop a new drug. Such an
endeavor is almost impossible to accomplish in a single academic
laboratory. Thus, both partners profit from the expertise of the
other group.”
The alliance is the university’s third collaboration with
Sanofi, alongside brain trauma and oncology research launched last
year, since the two signed a master agreement in January 2011 to
work together in translating academic science into potential new
therapies. Master agreements lay out the fundamental terms of
research collaborations, align with the university’s academic
mission including broad publication rights, and
form part of a core strategy for the UCSF Office of
Innovation, Technology and Alliances to expedite that
“bench-to-bedside” research.
This also is the first collaboration of its kind for the UCSF
Diabetes Center, extending beyond simpler, funded-research
agreements to create a two-way partnership in which scientists on
both sides contribute technology and expertise to identify drug
targets and test their potential.
“Sanofi is pleased to collaborate with the Diabetes Center at
UCSF to combine expertise in employing new technologies for the
development of innovative diabetes therapies,” said Pierre
Chancel, Senior Vice President, Diabetes Division, Sanofi. “The
potential resulting drug discovery projects will supplement our
integrated solutions model for diabetes management and help
Sanofi continue to deliver best-in-class solutions to
people living with diabetes.”
Together, the team will assess and validate potential drug
targets from a UCSF library of roughly 100,000 small interference
RNAs (siRNA) – molecules that play a crucial role in turning
on and off genes, including the gene that produces insulin. They
also will identify Sanofi compounds that might be effective in
regulating those molecules, study the impact those compounds have
on UCSF laboratory models of diabetes and assess their therapeutic
potential.
In the United States alone, 46 percent of adults had diabetes or
pre-diabetes in 2010, according to the Centers for Disease Control
Prevention (CDC), which projects a full third of Americans
will have the disease in 2050. It is the leading cause of blindness
and kidney failure, a major cause of heart disease and stroke, and
the seventh-highest cause of death. Diabetes care costs $116
billion each year in the United States alone, according to the CDC,
with an additional $58 billion toll in lost productivity and early
mortality.
The initial project, intended as a pilot for broader joint
research into diabetes, will operate under the oversight of an
expert panel from UCSF and Sanofi, and focus on beta cells, drawing
on the expertise of three renowned UCSF Diabetes Center researchers
and their laboratories:
- Michael McManus, PhD, a molecular biologist and expert in
microRNA and the way genes are expressed, or turned into genetic
products such as insulin and other proteins; - Hebrok, an expert on beta-cell biology and development who
holds the UCSF Hurlbut-Johnson Distinguished Professorship in
Diabetes Research; and - Michael German, MD, an expert on beta-cell function and how
cells transcribe DNA into RNA to create proteins, who is clinical
director of the Diabetes Center and holds the Justine K. Schreyer
Endowed Chair in Diabetes Research.
UCSF and its Diabetes Center have a long history of
breakthroughs in diabetes and beta-cell research, spanning from the
first cloning of the insulin gene to the first clinical studies
blocking autoimmune destruction of beta cells. Diabetes Center
researchers and their affiliated members are renowned experts in
their respective fields: Immunology, b-cell Biology, Islet
Pancreas Transplantation, and RNAi/microRNAs.
About the University of California, San Francisco –
UCSF
UCSF is a leading university dedicated to promoting health
worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level
education in the life sciences and health professions, and
excellence in patient care.
About Sanofi
Sanofi, a global and diversified healthcare leader, discovers,
develops and distributes therapeutic solutions focused on patients’
needs. Sanofi has core strengths in the field of healthcare with
seven growth platforms: diabetes solutions, human vaccines,
innovative drugs, rare diseases, consumer healthcare, emerging
markets and animal health. Sanofi is listed in Paris (EURONEXT:
SAN) and in New York (NYSE: SNY). www.sanofi.com
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements as
defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as
amended. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not
historical facts. These statements include projections and
estimates and their underlying assumptions, statements regarding
plans, objectives, intentions and expectations with respect to
future financial results, events, operations, services, product
development and potential, and statements regarding future
performance. Forward-looking statements are generally identified by
the words “expects”, “anticipates”, “believes”, “intends”,
“estimates”, “plans” and similar expressions. Although Sanofi’s
management believes that the expectations reflected in such
forward-looking statements are reasonable, investors are cautioned
that forward-looking information and statements are subject to
various risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to
predict and generally beyond the control of Sanofi, that could
cause actual results and developments to differ materially from
those expressed in, or implied or projected by, the forward looking
information and statements. These risks and uncertainties include
among other things, the uncertainties inherent in research and
development, future clinical data and analysis, including post
marketing, decisions by regulatory authorities, such 3/3 as
the FDA or the EMA, regarding whether and when to approve any drug,
device or biological application that may be filed for any such
product candidates as well as their decisions regarding labeling
and other matters that could affect the availability or commercial
potential of such products candidates, the absence of guarantee
that the products candidates if approved will be commercially
successful, the future approval and commercial success of
therapeutic alternatives, the Group’s ability to benefit from
external growth opportunities as well as those discussed or
identified in the public filings with the SEC and the AMF made by
Sanofi, including those listed under “Risk Factors” and “Cautionary
Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” in Sanofi’s annual
report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2010. Other
than as required by applicable law, Sanofi does not undertake any
obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information or
statements
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Amy Pyle, Executive Director, News
Source: Kristen Bole (415) 502-6397 (NEWS)
E-mail: kristen.bole@ucsf.edu
Web: www.ucsf.edu
Sanofi US
Susan Brooks, (908) 981-6566
E-mail: susan.brooks@sanofi.com
Web: www.sanofi.com
SOURCE Sanofi and University of California, San Francisco
