Sanofi & Google collaborate to improve diabetes care

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Internet giant Google partners with French drug maker Sanofi to find new ways to help improve and treat diabetes.

In addition to its previous deal with Novartis AG and Dexcom Inc., Google's Life Sciences unit has now partnered with Sanofi to find ways to help manage diabetes, a disease that has affected over 347 million people globally, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Sanofi is a manufacturer of insulin, which they market under the name Lantus. Insulin is a hormone that is used to treat type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

"As a global leader in diabetes care, we have both an obligation and a commitment to provide integrated solutions for people living with diabetes," Dr. Olivier Brandicourt, CEO of Sanofi said in a press release. "This initiative combines Sanofi's strength and knowledge in diabetes with Google's leadership in technology and analytics to create a first-of-its-kind initiative with the potential to transform diabetes care."

According to the Wall Street Journal, the US internet giant's partnership with the drug maker might help them in understanding the disease and how it works.

 "With Sanofi, we can complete the picture of how diabetes unfolds and try to interrupt that development through a proactive and preventive approach," leader of the Google Life Sciences, Andrew Conrad, told WSJ.

He added that the latest deal with Sanofi is one of the many necessary partnerships that effectively combine expertise in medical and technological fields to help manage and treat diabetes.

According to Bloomberg, the partnership aims to make diabetic insulin devices that can be delivered to the body easier.

"That's the system that we're endeavoring to build: smart insulin delivery devices, smart measurement devices, and an interface and an integrating platform that helps physicians and patients see how they're doing," Conrad said in an interview, according to the report.

In the past, Google's Life Sciences division has partnered with Novartis to make smart contact lens with technology that can help measure a patient's glucose levels via their eye's tear fluid. The findings, as well as other diabetic information, will be recorded wirelessly and sent to a mobile device, according the press release by Novartis. In addition, the lens will also be able to provide "accommodative vision correction" to help people with presbyopia or those who cannot read without glasses.

As for Google's partnership with Dexcom, they aim to create miniaturized continuous glucose monitors (CGM) that are less expensive, flexible, and disposable where the information from the wearable device can be stored in a smartphone or other mobile device, according to Diatribe.