Sanofi and Voluntis have announced a non-exclusive agreement to deliver digital insulin titration solutions, featuring a mobile phone application designed to help improve decision-making and self-management of type 2 diabetes for people treated with basal insulin. The application will also enable remote monitoring by health care teams. The agreement reinforces the existing alliance between the two companies, established in 2011, by expanding both its scope and geography.
The alliance will leverage Sanofi's expertise in bringing innovative treatments to people living with diabetes and Voluntis’ experience in creating companion software. Sanofi and Voluntis will launch pilot programmes using the mobile phone application in North America and several European countries. The application received FDA clearance and the CE mark in 2016.
Sanofi and Voluntis have worked together over several years to develop innovative digital solutions. Their alliance began in 2011 with the development of Diabeo, a software medical device that helps people with diabetes in France to manage their basal-bolus treatment.
“We are delighted to expand our long-standing collaboration with Sanofi,” said Eric Elliott, chairman of Voluntis and former chief executive officer of Prime Therapeutics. “This new phase of our partnership with a world leader in diabetes will help us deliver digital titration tools into the hands of providers and their patients. Furthermore, digital therapeutics allow manufacturers and payers to check whether agreed value metrics have been achieved and help to lower costs without compromising on patient outcomes and access. They ensure that prescription medications deliver the effects for which they were brought to market.”
“Despite the availability of new medicines for the treatment of diabetes, we see that outcomes are not sufficiently improving and that more than half of patients are not well controlled,”1 said Peter Guenter, executive vice-president, diabetes & cardiovascular at Sanofi. “With this in mind, Sanofi is focusing on a beyond-the-pill approach. We know that diabetes management is a 24/7 job, and we recognize that the right tools need to be developed to realize better outcomes. The long-term alliance we have with Voluntis will help us to reach that goal.”