Sanofi

Well a good day today compared to what the broader market is doing. I thought I'd throw up something of interest with regards to Sanofi and medical devices. Obviously they have got the insulin market tied up and they refer a lot to it here, as Alan had said in an EC the Insulin market is well taken care of. But this gives some insight as to Sanofi's thinking/dealings for devices and what has more than likely been going on for many years between UNS and SNY. The part below is only 2 pages of the full document but shows just how serious they are with regards to the device market.


Milk & honey
Two worlds meet at the interface of pharmaceuticals research and medical device development. These two worlds speak very different languages and have very different properties — like milk and honey. It is a great challenge to harmonise these two worlds, resulting in an innovative medication that forms a perfect fit with the appropriate medical device.

The development of a medical device today ideally takes place parallel to the development of a new active pharmaceutical ingredient. This was not always the case. At one time, the situation was more like this: Here is the new active agent — now go and develop a matching medical device. This was still the case for the SoloSTAR® insulin pen. After all, a known medicinal product with known properties was to be administered. Today, developing a medical device is more complex. The new U300 insulin, now in the development phase, involves a high concentration of the active ingredient. This would be impossible to dose without a medical device that matches it exactly.
Start early!
Here is another example. It was necessary to develop a disposable pen with a fixed dose but several administration options to handle a specific peptide. This kind  of development takes three to four years. This has to start early, if possible parallel to the clinical studies phase which is a part of pharmaceuticals development. It is good when the medical device can already be used in phase III of the clinical studies, i.e. when the medicinal product is tested with a larger patient group over an extended period of time.

Milk or honey:  the mix does the trick
Auto-injectors are another example. These are ready-to-use syringes for one-time injection in which the patient only needs to push a button and will never see the needle. Such auto-injectors are developed for antibodies that have to be injected, at high dos- age, once every two or four weeks. It is important to ensure the stability of the effective substance here. The formulation, i.e. the mixture and concentration of the active ingredients and the excipients that ensure that the effective substance will reach its target in the human body, is decisive. Some formulations, insulins being one example, are liquid like milk. Others, such as antibodies, viscous like honey. This influences the injection aid to be developed. Therefore, the basic parameters — milk or honey — should be deter- mined as early as possible. Development of the matching medical device will be all the faster.

A product of two worlds
All in all, researchers and engineers must be brought together around the table early on — in spite or specifically because there are very different development times. Medical device development takes ten years on average. The medicine can no longer be modified once clinical phase III has started. The medical devices, such as injection aids, however, can. Development here takes three to four years. The device is still in a state of flux during the clinical phases. It can be and it is of course refined until it perfectly suits the patient’s needs. This is unusual for pharmaceutical researchers, since the medicine is already present in its final form. In short: Research and development are responsible for the medicine and its administration method; the engineers are responsible for technology and innovation in the medical device. Consequently, representatives of these two worlds meet very early on at Sanofi — to ensure that the end result is a combination of medicine and medical device that is perfect for patients.

http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&r...lYKAAg&usg=AFQjCNEtE5Zf7d1mFYJjaJmL3Ca73W1D8Q


Also I have noted a fair few jobs being post up for Sanofi as of late for their Medical Device Technology Group, one of the jobs that seemed interesting to me was this one:

https://www.linkedin.com/jobs2/view/18582640?trk=jserp_job_details_text

A few others to have a look at if interested:

https://www.linkedin.com/jobs2/view/18585036?trk=jserp_job_details_text

https://www.linkedin.com/jobs2/view/18582641?trk=jserp_job_details_text

https://www.linkedin.com/jobs2/view/17305488?trk=jserp_job_details_text

https://www.linkedin.com/jobs2/view/18063396?trk=jserp_job_details_text