Partnerships, sourcing skills and discoveries
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Sanofi-aventis forges strategic partnerships around the world with recognized experts to achieve faster, better progress towards new therapeutic solutions.
Partnerships for new discoveries
To accelerate the development of innovative compounds and vaccines, sanofi-aventis depends not only on its own R&D resources but also on its proactive partnership program, particularly in the fields of biotechnology and biotherapy.
Successful partnerships
For several years, sanofi-aventis has been working with Regeneron to develop and commercialize human therapeutic antibodies.
Through a strategic collaboration with Dyax, sanofi-aventis has been granted an exclusive worldwide license for the development and commercialization of the fully human monoclonal antibody SAR161578.
In vaccines, Sanofi Pasteur recently concluded a partnership with the Dutch firm Crucell to develop and commercialize a new generation of monoclonal antibodies to fight rabies.
Acambis, an acquisition after 10 years of partnership
Acambis has become a wholly owned affiliate of sanofi Pasteur.
The two partners are working on three innovative vaccines: against the Japanese encephalitis virus, against the West Nile virus and against dengue fever- as yet there is no vaccine against this disease, which kills more than 25,000 children worldwide each year.
Publication
Science Journal : successful collaboration between the Johns Hopkins University and sanofi-aventis in oncology
On August 6th, the journal Science published an article titled “Glucose Deprivation Contributes to the Development of KRAS Pathway Mutations in Tumor Cells”.
This paper is the result of a team effort between scientists from the prestigious Johns Hopkins University (USA) and the Oncology Discovery Department of sanofi-aventis. It illustrates sanofi-aventis' new spirit of external openness and our commitment to collaborate with world-class academic scientists.
Scientists of the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and sanofi-aventis have discovered how two common cancer-promoting genes (KRAS and BRAF) enhance a tumor’s capacity to grow and survive under conditions where normal cells die. This knowledge may offer new treatments that starve cancer cells of the key nutrient sugar.
Dr. Christoph Lengauer, Global Head of Oncology Discovery at sanofi-aventis explains, “Cancer cells adapt to living within the inner layers of a tumor, a place where circulating nutrients are relatively scarce. We wanted to know what makes cancer cells survive under such conditions. To our surprise, we found that increased levels of the protein GLUT1 is such a survival adaptation that makes cancer cells very efficient at gathering what little sugar exists in these areas”.
