sanofi-aventis announced that the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design has awarded a 2007 Good Design Award for the new SoloSTAR disposable insulin injection pen for people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

"LANTUS SoloSTAR and APIDRA SoloSTAR, the results of over four years of intensive development, have been designed in dialogue with patients, nurses and doctors and meet the high standards of the industry," said Paul Jansen, Global Head Medical Devices, sanofi-aventis.

"We are proud to receive this prestigious Good Design Award for SoloSTAR as a recognition of our strong commitment to people with diabetes", Gilles Lhernould, senior vice president Industrial Affairs sanofi-aventis added.

For some people with diabetes, self-injection can be a barrier to acceptance of insulin therapy. "SoloSTAR is a marriage of sleek, handsome design styling with easy, but advanced sophisticated technology for dispensing insulin to people with diabetes," says Christian K. Narkiewicz-Laine, President Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design. "SoloSTAR represents a design for social good and for humanitarian concerns".

When choosing a specific insulin pen for an individual patient, clinicians consider the patient's insulin regimen, lifestyle, and other factors that may affect the ability to use a particular device, such as manual dexterity and visual acuity. Therefore certain characteristics of a given insulin pen may make it preferable for patients. The outstanding design of SoloSTAR using breakthrough technology contributes to making this patients' and clinicians' choice easier.

SoloSTAR provides a delivery option that may be more acceptable and more convenient to use in comparison with other delivery systems, thus may promote patient compliance, which could help achieve and maintain glycemic control.

A recent survey of LANTUS SoloSTAR use in everyday clinical practice, involving more than 2000 people with diabetes (16% with manual dexterity problems and 15 per cent with poor eyesight not corrected by glasses) showed that more than 95 per cent of participants declared to be "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with using SoloSTAR to inject insulin, irrespective of diabetes type or previous device experience.

Healthcare professionals involved in teaching the people in this survey how to use LANTUS SoloSTAR found SoloSTAR® to be easy learn and easy to use for people with diabetes. SoloSTAR also operates with a lower injection force and a recent study found that SoloSTAR required 31 per cent less injection force than the Novo Nordisk FlexPen and 54 per cent less force than the Eli Lilly Humulin/Humalog pen.

"Insulin injection with SoloSTAR brings flexibility, satisfaction for the patients, and an opportunity for earlier initiation of insulin therapy which may contribute to better long term glycaemic control", Denis Raccah, Professor of Endocrinology, University Hospital Sainte Marguerite, France, added.

SoloSTAR is a new, easy-to-use disposable pen for administration of LANTUS and APIDRA. SoloSTAR, allows to administer doses from 1 up to 80 units, in one unit increments, in one injection. SoloSTAR offers a 25 per cent greater maximum capacity than other insulin pens. Consequently, the administration until 80 units of insulin can be done with only one injection. SoloSTAR uses a simple, intuitive design with easy-to-read display featured and requires only a few steps to use it properly. SoloSTAR is small, discreet and eliminates the need for the patient to change insulin cartridges. Easy-to-use and easy-to-inject, SoloSTAR reduces the injection force by 30 per cent or more in comparison to other most broadly available pens in its class.

Lantus SoloSTAR and APIDRA SoloSTAR were approved by the EMEA in September 2006; LANTUS SoloSTAR was approved by the FDA in April 2007. LANTUS SoloSTAR and APIDRA SoloSTAR are launched in France, UK, Italy, Spain, Germany, Netherlands, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Norway, Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Australia, Lithuania, Lebanon, and South Africa. LANTUS SoloSTAR is launched in the US, Canada and Switzerland. The preparation for launches in other countries is planned during 2008.

The elegant exterior design of Lantus and Apidra SoloSTAR and its ease of use due to advanced technology is the result of the collaboration with DCA Design International Ltd. in Great Britain DCA Company.

Sanofi-aventis having 85 years of innovation in the diabetes is committed to offering people with diabetes an integrated system of insulin products and delivery devices. In addition to the SoloSTAR, the pen portfolio available for LANTUS and APIDRA includes the OptiSet disposable pen, the OptiClik and OptiPen Pro reusable pens, and the Autopen 24 from Owen Mumford.

The Museum's historic Good Design programme was founded in Chicago in 1950 by Edgar J.Kaufmann, Jr. with the participation of some of America's most important designers. Every year the jury meets in New York and select products and graphics worthy of the Good Design Award for design distinction. Good Design remains the oldest and most important Awards programme worldwide.