- Company invests €66 million in Chengdu, Sichuan province, China

CHENGDU, China /PRNewswire/ -- Sanofi (EURONEXT: SAN) (NYSE: SNY) is launching a Global R&D Operations Hub with a specialized focus on digitalization and big data analysis in Chengdu, Sichuan province, China. The new R&D operations hub confirms China as the third pillar of Sanofi Global Clinical Sciences and Operations, joining facilities in France and the United States.

With an investment of €66 million, the Hub will support the clinical research and development of Sanofi's innovative drugs by focusing on the management of global multi-center clinical trials data and files. Bringing together global data and analysis, the Hub will accelerate the availability of trial results, from Phase I to Phase IV. The Hub will take advantage of local talents to further strengthen Sanofi's digital capabilities.

"Through this new Hub, we will take full advantage of our global experience and R&D capabilities together with local scientific research strengths to further improve innovation," said Zhang Ji, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, Global Head of Sanofi R&D Operations. "Our goal is to link China's innovative achievements with the global ecosystem and develop innovative drugs in China that could benefit patients around the world."

The Chengdu Hub will target diseases that affect millions of people across our therapeutic areas: diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, vaccines, oncology, immunology and inflammation, rare diseases, multiple sclerosis and neurology. It will leverage global cutting-edge biological technology for polypeptides, gene therapy, monoclonal antibodies and multi-specific antibodies. The Hub plans to recruit 300 local pharmaceutical research and development professionals by 2020.

About Sanofi China

Sanofi China, established in 1982 with headquarters in Shanghai, has a wide range of businesses covering pharmaceuticals and human vaccines (Sanofi Pasteur). The group has 11 regional offices in Beijing, Tianjin, Shenyang, Jinan, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Wuhan, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Fuzhou and Urumqi, and three production bases in Beijing, Hangzhou, and Shenzhen. At the end of 2017, Sanofi had over 9,500 employees in China.

With the China R&D Center and the Asia-Pacific R&D Center in Shanghai, Sanofi possesses an overall R&D capability, from drug targets to clinical trials, and has been focusing on frequently occurring diseases like liver diseases, diabetes, cancers and cardiovascular diseases in China and the Asia-Pacific region.

Please visit www.sanofi.cn for more information.