Sanofi Plans R&D Hub in China

Sanofi is launching a Global R&D Operations Hub, with a specialized focus on digitalization and big data analysis, in Chengdu, Sichuan province, China. Sanofi is investing EUR 66 million (US$77 million) in the new R&D operations hub, and it joins facilities in France and the United States as the third pillar of Sanofi Global Clinical Sciences and Operations, said the company in a July 2, 2018 press release. The Hub will support clinical R&D by focusing on the management of global, multi-center clinical trials data and files to accelerate the availability of trial results from Phase I to Phase IV.

"Through this new Hub, we will take full advantage of our global experience and R&D capabilities together with local scientific research strengths to further improve innovation," said Zhang Ji, PhD, senior vice-president and global head of Sanofi R&D Operations, in the press release. "Our goal is to link China's innovative achievements with the global ecosystem and develop innovative drugs in China that could benefit patients around the world."

The Chengdu Hub will target diseases that affect millions of people across the therapeutic areas of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, vaccines, oncology, immunology and inflammation, rare diseases, multiple sclerosis, and neurology. It will leverage global cutting-edge biological technology for polypeptides, gene therapy, monoclonal antibodies, and multi-specific antibodies. The Hub plans to recruit 300 local pharmaceutical R&D professionals by 2020.