Sanofi-aventis and Columbia University Medical Center announced a three-year research collaboration for the development of innovative diabetes medicines.  This research collaboration, with the laboratory of Dr. Gerard Karsenty, will investigate the role of the osteoblast-secreted peptide, osteocalcin, in diabetes management. In a landmark paper published in the research journal Cell in 2007, Dr. Karsenty, the Paul A. Marks Professor and Chair of the Department of Genetics and Development at Columbia University, and colleagues...

The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and sanofi-aventis have formed two new research and development collaborations that join together leaders from academia and industry to more rapidly advance groundbreaking innovation from the lab to the patient. The first collaboration promotes innovative research in pharmacological science and in multiple therapeutic areas, such as oncology, aging, diabetes and inflammation. The second collaboration is an oncology partnership that will focus on project-based collaboration...

Sanofi-aventis announced it has signed a global licensing and patent transfer agreement with Ascendis Pharma (Ascendis) on Ascendis’ proprietary TransCon Linker and Hydrogel carrier technology, which allows for a drug compound to be released in the body in a precise, time-controlled fashion, creating a long-acting effect. The technology creates transient bonds between larger molecules such as proteins and peptides, including insulin, and a carrier. This allows for tailor-made release profiles, with no initial burst and...

Sanofi-aventis announced the upcoming launch of the blood glucose monitoring (BGM) devices BGStar and iBGStarTM, developed by sanofi-aventis and its partner AgaMatrix. Due to their convenience, accuracy and ease-of-use, BGStar and iBGStarTM will help the decision-making process for people with diabetes and their healthcare professionals, with the aim of improving patient self-management. iBGStarTM connects to the iPhone or iPod touch. This is an important step towards sanofi-aventis’ vision of becoming the leader in global...

Sanofi-aventis announced the first Phase III results of the GetGoal clinical trial program assessing the efficacy and safety of lixisenatide, a once-daily GLP-1 receptor agonist, as monotherapy in patients with type 2 diabetes. These results were presented at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) 46th Annual Meeting in Stockholm, Sweden. “These results demonstrated lixisenatide as a once daily GLP-1 agent with substantial A1C reduction and a pronounced effect on post-meal glucose control,” said Dr....

Sanofi-aventis and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) announced a unique partnership to develop therapeutic treatments for people with type 1 diabetes at different stages of the disease – both those living with the disease and the newly diagnosed – as well as preventing diabetes in those at risk.  Toward those goals, the partnership will focus on therapeutics such as immune therapies and beta cell regeneration. Under the newly announced partnership, sanofi-aventis and JDRF will jointly provide academic...

Sanofi-aventis announced the results of the first placebo-controlled study of the GetGoal Phase III clinical trial program of lixisenatide (AVE0010), a once-daily GLP-1 agonist developed for patients with type 2 diabetes. The 12-week study involved 361 patients with type 2 diabetes not currently receiving glucose-lowering therapy and with HbA1c between 7 and 10%. The study found HbA1c was significantly reduced in lixisenatide titration groups versus placebo, and significantly more patients in the lixisenatide groups achieved...

Sanofi-aventis announced that it has signed a global license agreement with CureDM Group on a novel human peptide, Pancreate™, which could restore a patients’ ability to produce insulin and other pancreatic hormones in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Pancreate™ is a bioactive peptide sequence of a naturally occurring human protein that has been shown in preclinical studies to stimulate the growth of new insulin producing islets in the pancreas, resulting in restoration of normal metabolic function and glucose control...

Sanofi-aventis announced that they have signed an agreement with AgaMatrix Inc. for the development, supply and commercialization of blood glucose monitoring (BGM) solutions. Under the terms of the agreement, AgaMatrix and sanofi-aventis will co-develop innovative solutions in diabetes care with the aim to simplify patients’ and healthcare providers’ diabetes management experience. These BGM solutions will be exclusive to sanofi-aventis and will be designed to be synergistic to sanofi-aventis’ diabetes portfolio including...

Senator Herb Kohl (D), chair of the Special Committee on Aging, sent letters to AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Eli Lilly, Novartis, Pfizer, and Sanofi-Aventis asking them to explain why Americans on average pay twice as much as people in other industrialized countries for prescription drugs, according to Reuters report. The letter comes at a time when the drug companies are under attack from some Democrats involved in health care reform. In response to the letter Eli Lilly said drug prices were lower in other countries for...