PharmaTimes World News | Kevin Grogan
Like many of its peers, Sanofi has been overhauling its research operations
and says that a shift from reliance on in-house projects to adopting a more
open approach to R&D and embracing external partners is the way forward.
The French drugmaker's chief executive Chris Viehbacher and R&D head
Elias Zerhouni laid out their vision for the firm at Sanofi's annual press
conference in Paris earlier this month. Speeding up the process of research and
increasing access to external innovation is very much key to that.
Mr Viehbacher said Sanofi has redesigned its R&D operations because
internally "we haven't come up with all that many molecules". In the
past, there has been too much attention given to "science for the sake of
science", and this approach is not sustainable, he added.
'More rigour' needed in research
He went on to say that people would be amazed at the number of scientists
who do not ask themselves at the onset as to how a compound will actually work
in humans. Mr Viehbacher said that "much more rigour" needs to be
applied to the research process and while each project is different, Mr
Viehbacher said that two-to-three years should be long enough to know if a
molecule is going to make the grade.
More collaborations does not mean drastic cuts at its European research
hubs in Paris and Frankfurt, but these sites "have to perform
optimally", he said, telling PharmaTimes World News that the firm
has realised that "major groups are not great sources of innovation."
Previously Sanofi's research centres have not communicated enough and what
does work well, Mr Viehbacher believes, "is Cambridge, Massachusetts"
and tapping into the talent in the area.
Payers demand 'genuine medical value'
Dr Zerhouni (pictured) said that "we are no longer in the race to find
the next blockbuster", but rather the focus is on developing drugs with
genuine medical value and translational feasibility. "This has to be
clearly established" to payers, he noted as they "don't want marginal
improvements".
When asked about the fears that governments, particularly in Europe, may
not be prepared to pay for innovative drugs, Dr Zerhouni told PharmaTimes
World News that every government's "number one issue" is
healthcare, despite price controls, so it is up to companies to offer
"integrated solutions. If not, you won't get reimbursed".
He went on to say that productivity has improved and the
"smarter" Sanofi is seeing a substantial decrease in cycle time in
getting drugs along the pipeline. Five new molecular entities were submitted to
regulators in just the last six months of 2011 - Kynamro (mipomersen),
co-developed with Isis for hypercholesterolaemia, the multiple sclerosis pill
Aubagio (teriflunomide), Visamerin/Mulsevo (semuloparin) for the prevention of
venous thromboembolism events in chemotherapy-treated patients, the diabetes
drug Lyxumia (lixisenatide) partnered with Zealand Pharma and Zaltrap
(aflibercept), in collaboration with Regeneron for second-line metastatic
colorectal cancer.
This year should see filings for the MS drug Lemtrada (alemtuzumab) and
further down the line Sanofi is excited about the prospects for its PCSK-9
monoclonal antibody for hypercholesterolaemia, eliglustat for Gaucher disease
and a vaccine designed for dengue. Over 2012-2015, Sanofi could launch 18 products.