«By investing in medical startups in Russia today we’re building the future of the healthcare system all over the world”, states Virtual Healthcare Solutions Development Lead, Sanofi HQ.
How was the idea of this contest born? Why did you choose Skolkovo as a partner among other accelerators?
Nowadays, the burden on the healthcare system is continuously growing. Digitalization of the processes is one of the possibilities to improve the quality and availability of healthcare services for people. That is why we launched our Startups laboratory with Skolkovo as a partner. Skolkovo is a world-famous innovation center located in Moscow, that is uniting the leading specialists, top industries players, innovative companies and startups to create environment for collaboration and co-creation of innovative solutions within 4 clusters: IT, Energy, Nuclear, Biomedicine, and Space. Sanofi is one of the partners of Biomedicine cluster in Skolkovo.
What are the most important issues that you’re planning to resolve with the help of Skolkovo?
The main goal for Sanofi and Skolkovo together with the founders of startups is the optimization of existing business processes, development of tools for data collection and analysis and discovery of innovative solutions for patients, partners and employees of Sanofi. These solutions can be scaled up for other countries, where Sanofi is present. Digital Health projects focused on solutions for people with chronic diseases for better health management are of the highest priority for the company. For example, remote monitoring, connected devices to support people with adherence to prescribed therapy and healthy lifestyle.
Projects for the professional community are also among our priorities. For example, there are services that help searching for relevant medical information and training healthcare workers; for cooperation within professional communities and decision support systems, as well as other digital solutions for hospitals, medical centers and pharmacies.
Another priority is the implementation of big data analysis to improve the quality of therapy, gain new insights within RWE studies (real world evidence).
Which IT technologies does Sanofi use today? Perhaps the technologies of some French startups?
Sanofi unites biopharmaceutical and digital solutions aiming to resolve three challenges: to empower patients with more control over their health, to accelerate the discovery of innovative treatment methods and to improve operational efficiency. One of the examples is innovation for manufacturing — this project is called Industry 4.0.
In 2019, Sanofi opened one of the first digital manufacturing sites for the continuous production of biological products in Massachusetts (USA). The company is using big data and artificial intelligence to better analyze clinical information and accelerate the introduction of new solutions to the markets. At the end of the manufacturing process, digital solutions help optimize logistics and distribution throughout the supply chain to manage stock effectively.
This project of digitalization involves six production sites in different countries: United States, Canada, Ireland, France, Brazil and China.
Another example is ofproject with Semantic Hub company in many tasks related to semantic analysis. This solution is also being scaled to other markets of Sanofi.
We have also launched an innovative drug-agnostic pilot project for people living with diabetes in two Russian regions. In December 2020 we’ve announced the results of RWE (real world evidence) research about the use of digital services and integrated approach in therapy of patients with diabetes.
On the global level, Sanofi is actively scaling its platform to help people with diabetes that need to titrate insulin — the mobile app “My dose coach” is available in Mexico and India. Access to this service is given to patients by their doctor, the doctor prescribes a dose of insulin and choses the titration algorithm for a concrete person. Every day, the patient inputs the blood sugar to this application and gets recommendations about the dose of basal insulin automatically according to the algorithm chosen by the doctor. The doctor can see the patients’ logbook in the real time.
By the end of the contest with Skolkovo on the 11th of October, how many companies have already applied? From which parts of Russia? Do these applications meet your requirements?
By the end of the first part of the contest have we received over 150 applications and 30% of them met our selection criteria (therapeutic area, problem to be solved, application of digital technologies, product development stage). 10 companies from different areas have made it to the final round: solutions based on artificial intelligence, mobile applications for health care, systems for remote patient monitoring and various medical devices.
We are currently considering the possibility of launching pilot projects with three finalists: Zdorovie.ru, Webiomed, Onkonet. Besides, at the end of December we announced the finalists of the second wave of the competition: UNIM, Scanderm, XplainBio. Thus, in the coming weeks we will explore the possibility of launching pilots with selected winners.
What is the program of cooperating with startups like? How long it will last and what is the role of is Skolkovo? Is the program only designed for the Russian market or it is possible to scale it up for other countries?
In May 2020, we launched the” Startups development laboratory” with Skolkovo foundation — this is the “runway” for innovative projects launches that will help Sanofi develop and implement new solutions faster. Pilots with startups should go through this process, that is optimized to startups specificity, since standard corporate procedures sometimes do not fit collaboration with startups.
In the nearest future we’re planning to scale successful solutions to new markets. Therefore, this is an excellent opportunity for startups that have shown great results to gain access to international markets where Sanofi is present.
What do you expect by the end of the contest?
- We’re expecting to find valuable solutions for collaboration, that will change the perception of patients and professionals about innovative ways of diagnostics, prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of many socially significant diseases.
Were such acceleration programs launched in other countries where Sanofi is present? Are there any plans to do so?
Sanofi is already working with digital startups on a global level. For example, the company has a venture capital fund that operates globally and invests in digital solutions. Generally, the development of digital solutions is a part of our global strategy. By investing in innovations today, the company is building its future as well as the future of the whole healthcare industry in the international markets.
