Sanofi US Launches 2012 Data Design Diabetes Innovation Challenge

BRIDGEWATER, N.J., Feb. 23, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Sanofi US announced today that it is accepting entries for the Data Design Diabetes™ Innovation Challenge. The Innovation Challenge is aligned with the United States government's initiative to use an open dialogue to drive action toward a three-part aim: innovation in the quality, delivery and cost of diabetes care. The kickoff earlier this year crowd-sourced answers to the question, "What matters most to you?" as it relates to diabetes, and prizes include more than $200,000 in awards, industry-leading mentorship and real-world community response. Innovators are encouraged to submit concepts to www.DataDesignDiabetes.com through March 23, 2012.

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"Sanofi strives to be a valued partner to the diabetes community offering innovative, integrated and personalized solutions that address the real needs people have in managing their diabetes every day," said Dennis Urbaniak, Vice President, Head of U.S. Diabetes, Sanofi US. "The Innovation Challenge offers us an opportunity to foster innovation solutions for the nearly 26 million people living with diabetes today."

2012 Data Design Diabetes™ Innovation Challenge parameters include:

• Improve the outcomes and/or experience of caregivers, family/friends, healthcare providers and/or people living with diabetes in the US.
• Advance the quality, effectiveness and delivery of diabetes care in the US.
• Enable people within the diabetes ecosystem to feel in control.
• Reduce the cost of care without compromising the quality and delivery of care.
• Create a concept that scales and can be accelerated and distributed with ease.
• Reflect human-centered design.
• Demonstrate the ability to develop the concept into an illustrative prototype in one month.

Industry leaders will mentor five semi-finalists, selected by a panel of judges, and all intellectual property and equity will remain the property of its creators. Last year's winner, Ginger.io, uses an app to alert caregivers to concerning behavioral changes. Following the Innovation Challenge, Ginger.io raised $1.7MM in seed funding and expanded its company, which now includes 7 full-time employees. "The first Innovation Challenge allowed us to expand our ideas to help people with diabetes in a new way," said Ginger.io co-founders, Karan Singh and Anmol Madan. "We encourage anyone with an innovative idea who wants to make a difference to submit an entry."

The 2012 Data Design Diabetes™ Innovation Challenge prizes include:

• Access to entrepreneurial resources, through a partnership with Startup America.
• A Design & Prototyping Bootcamp to orient the semi-finalists to human-centered design and user experience, develop the understanding of diabetes and teach rapid prototyping methodologies.
• Total monetary awards of more than $200,000 by Sanofi US, along with invaluable mentorship and ongoing support.

For a complete list of the Innovation Challenge rules and to submit a concept, visit http://www.DataDesignDiabetes.com. To follow the Innovation Challenge as it progresses, visit Twitter, Facebook, or the Data Design Diabetes blog.

About the Data Design Diabetes™ Innovation Challenge
Data Design Diabetes™ is a next-generation challenge offered by Sanofi US that brings together the richness of open datasets, the values of human-centered design, and the leading-edge methodology of the top innovation accelerators to find the next breakthrough to help millions of Americans living with diabetes.

About the Sanofi Diabetes Division
Sanofi strives to help people manage the complex challenges of diabetes by delivering innovative, integrated and personalized solutions. Driven by valuable insight that comes from listening to and engaging with people living with diabetes, the Company is forming partnerships to offer diagnostics, therapies, services, and devices. Sanofi markets both injectable and oral medications for people with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Investigational compounds in the pipeline include an injectable GLP-1 agonist being studied as a single agent, in combination with basal insulins, and/or in combination with oral antidiabetic agents.

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).

Sanofi is the holding company of a consolidated group of subsidiaries and operates in the United States as Sanofi US, also referred to as Sanofi-aventis U.S. LLC. For more information on Sanofi US, please visit http://www.sanofi.us or call 1-800-981-2491.

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SOURCE Sanofi