Medco, United BioSource and Sanofi Signed Global Agreement to Improve Quality of Patient Care Through Real-World Evidence

FRANKLIN LAKES, N.J., June 22, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Sanofi (NYSE: SNY), Medco Health Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: MHS) and its wholly owned subsidiary, United BioSource Corporation (UBC), announced they have entered into a global, multi-year agreement to support the real-world evidence assessments during Sanofi product development and pre-/post-approval processes that support improvements in the overall quality of patient care.  

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This agreement with Medco and UBC will allow Sanofi to more precisely identify patient populations with the greatest unmet medical need and help determine the patient populations in which drugs are most effective; generate real-world comparative effectiveness data to support product value that meets stakeholder evidence requirements; and facilitate the development and implementation of novel care models to improve practice of care, adherence and patient outcomes.

Additionally, this framework gives Sanofi a consolidated representation of payer, manufacturer and researcher insight throughout the product lifecycle, and will support improved health outcomes and deliver meaningful benefits to patients, providers and payers.  

"Some products that seemed to hold promise in early research, might not deliver the intended results when used in real-world practice," said Dr. Robert Epstein, Medco's Clinical Research and Development Officer. "This partnership will use real-world evidence to develop products that demonstrate value in real-world settings, enabling Sanofi to support high-quality, cost-effective care."

Jean-Pierre Lehner, Chief Medical Officer of Sanofi, added: "Medco and UBC offer robust capabilities to help us close the gap between R&D and the real-world clinical setting. This work will bring transformative change to the drug development process required to improve the quality of patient care, while effectively meeting payer and other stakeholder evidence requirements. Through this agreement, we will make the leap from discovering and marketing new medicines to providing comprehensive healthcare solutions that are proven to drive safety, effectiveness and relative value for our stakeholders."

The agreement leverages the unique and complementary set of capabilities from Medco and UBC in the areas of real-world evidence, comparative effectiveness, personalized medicine/pharmacogenomics, health economics, safety research, and clinical/adherence support.  

About Sanofi

Sanofi, a global and diversified healthcare leader, discovers, develops and distributes therapeutic solutions focused on patients' needs. Sanofi has core strengths in the field of healthcare with seven growth platforms: diabetes solutions, human vaccines, innovative drugs, rare diseases, consumer healthcare, emerging markets and animal health. Sanofi is listed in Paris (EURONEXT: SAN) and in New York (NYSE: SNY).

About Medco

Medco Health Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: MHS) is pioneering The world's most advanced pharmacy^® and its clinical research and innovations are part of Medco making medicine smarter™ for more than 65 million members.

With more than 24,000 employees worldwide dedicated to improving patient health and reducing costs for a wide range of public and private sector clients, and 2010 revenues of $66 billion, Medco ranks 34th on the 2011 Fortune 500 list and is named among the world's most innovative, most admired and most trustworthy companies. 

For more information, go to http://www.medcohealth.com.

About United BioSource Corporation

United BioSource Corporation (UBC), a wholly owned subsidiary of Medco Health Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: MHS), is a global scientific and medical affairs organization that partners with life science companies to make medicine and medical products smarter for all stakeholders in the health care landscape.  UBC helps deliver authoritative, real-world evidence to characterize product effectiveness, address safety risk, and demonstrate value.  UBC brings together recognized scientific and industry experts, research operations professionals, and new technologies to provide innovative solutions across the product lifecycle.  The company is headquartered in Chevy Chase, MD with offices in North and South America, Europe and Asia.  For more information about UBC, visit www.unitedbiosource.com.

Sanofi Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts. These statements include projections and estimates and their underlying assumptions, statements regarding plans, objectives, intentions and expectations with respect to future financial results, events, operations, services, product development and potential, and statements regarding future performance. Forward-looking statements are generally identified by the words "expects", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "plans" and similar expressions. Although Sanofi's management believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, investors are cautioned that forward-looking information and statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and generally beyond the control of Sanofi, that could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied or projected by, the forward-looking information and statements. These risks and uncertainties include among other things, the uncertainties inherent in research and development, future clinical data and analysis, including post marketing, decisions by regulatory authorities, such as the FDA or the EMA, regarding whether and when to approve any drug, device or biological application that may be filed for any such product candidates as well as their decisions regarding labeling and other matters that could affect the availability or commercial potential of such products candidates, the absence of guarantee that the products candidates if approved will be commercially successful, the future approval and commercial success of therapeutic alternatives, the Group's ability to benefit from external growth opportunities as well as those discussed or identified in the public filings with the SEC and the AMF made by Sanofi, including those listed under "Risk Factors" and "Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" in Sanofi's annual report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2010. Other than as required by applicable law, Sanofi does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information or statements.

Medco Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause results to differ materially from those set forth in the statements. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed, and actual results may differ materially from those projected. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Forward-looking statements in this press release should be evaluated together with the risks and uncertainties that affect our business, particularly those mentioned in the Risk Factors section of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

SOURCE Medco Health Solutions, Inc.