Sanofi Collaborates With German Biotech Company to Develop a New Class of Diabetes Drugs

Sanofi collaborates with Evotec AG, a german biotech company to develop a new class of medicines to treat diabetes. Its focus is on developing a beta cell replacement therapy based on functional human beta cells derived from human stem cells.

The collaboration will use human stem cells to develop drugs that bolster "Beta" cells, which release insulin and become impaired in people with diabetes. The drugs could reduce the need for diabetes patients to inject themselves with insulin, said Sanofi.

Sanofi could pay Evotec up to EUR300 million ($327.8 million) for hitting various drug development milestones, plus additional royalties on different drugs.

The collaboration will further enhance and complement Sanofi's extensive diabetes portfolio and will extend Evotec's metabolic disease and stem cell-based drug discovery programs.

Source: Medindia