Sanofi US Announces Winner of 2013 Data Design Diabetes Innovation Challenge -- Prove It!

BRIDGEWATER, N.J., June 4, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Sanofi US announced today that Connect & Coach™ has been selected as the winning solution of the 2013 Data Design Diabetes (DDD) Innovation Challenge – Prove It! at Health Datapalooza IV in Washington, DC. Sanofi US will award Connect & Coach™ $100,000 to further develop its novel, data-driven solution to help improve health outcomes for people living with diabetes. Designed for the retail supermarket or pharmacy setting, Connect & Coach™ is the first hybrid clinical and consumer application for Registered Dietitians and Certified Diabetes Educators to help educate the diabetes community.

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As part of this year's challenge, Sanofi US partnered with the Health Data Consortium to kick off the Redesigning Data Challenge Series. The Consortium, a collaboration among government, non-profit, and private sector organizations, works to foster innovative uses of data to improve health and healthcare. Through this unique partnership, DDD encourages participants to utilize or produce data that will fuel the tools to improve diabetes care in the U.S.

During the final stages of DDD, which is now in its third year, the five finalist teams participated in a Demo Day event at Health Datapalooza IV to showcase their noteworthy prototypes.  In addition to the winning solution Connect & Coach™, the other four finalist solutions included:

• AllazoEngine: Leverages existing Allazo Health member data to both anticipate which patients will not take their medications and to predict the most effective interventions to influence each of those patients to take their medication.
• GoCap: Replacement pen cap for prefilled insulin pens that can read dose amounts and times, and communicate wirelessly via Bluetooth to a mobile phone or connected glucometer.
• MediSapien: Accepts isolated silos of unstructured health data and converts it into fully-coded structured data, empowering healthcare analytics for case management, pharmaceutical studies, trend analysis and academic research.
• Nuduro: Provides home and on-the-go meal recommendations that match customers' taste and lifestyle with their unique nutritional needs.

"The Connect & Coach™ solution embodies the vision of Data Design Diabetes to find forward-thinking solutions that may help today's 26 million Americans who are living with diabetes," said Dennis Urbaniak, Vice President, U.S. Diabetes Patient Centered Unit, Sanofi US and DDD Judge.

Innovation challenges have become an integral part of the Sanofi US commitment to diabetes care.  As part of this commitment, Sanofi US also presented $5,000 to each of the 10 winners of Ignite: The Diabetes Ideas Challenge on May 30, 2013, which invited patients, caregivers, designers, engineers and innovators to submit ideas that could shape the design of a next-generation, insulin delivery device for people with diabetes. The winners of this year's Ignite Challenge are Being 'Sweet' Isn't Painful, Breeza: Insulin Inhaler Concept, Easy Insulin, EYECHECK, Insulin Printer, Kyrstalin, LEGO Insulin, MOVE, STAMP-IT, and stealth-IN. The concepts range from an insulin inhaler, to patch-based insulin delivery, to wearable insulin pumps, to an insulin printer that prepares needle-less insulin cartridges, and more.

For more information about the 2013 Data Design Diabetes Innovation Challenge – Prove It!, visit Twitter, Facebook, or the Data Design Diabetes blog. For more information about Ignite: The Diabetes Ideas Challenge, visit www.igniteideaschallenge.com.

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 Diabetes

Diabetes is a chronic, widespread condition in which the body does not produce or properly use insulin, the hormone needed to transport glucose (sugar) from the blood into the cells of the body for energy. It is estimated that 371 million people worldwide and nearly 26 million Americans have diabetes, including an estimated 7 million Americans who remain undiagnosed. At the same time, approximately 40 percent of those diagnosed are not achieving the blood sugar control target of A1C <7 percent recommended by the American Diabetes Association (ADA). The A1C test measures average blood glucose levels over the past two-to three-month period.

About Sanofi Diabetes

Sanofi strives to help people manage the complex challenge of diabetes by delivering innovative, integrated and personalized solutions. Driven by valuable insights that come from listening to and engaging with people living with diabetes, the Company is forming partnerships to offer diagnostics, therapies, services, and devices including blood glucose monitoring systems. Sanofi markets both injectable and oral medications for people with type 1 or type 2 diabetes.

About Sanofi

Sanofi, an integrated global 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, consumer healthcare, emerging markets, animal health and the new Genzyme. 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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US Communications
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Email: [email protected]

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SOURCE Sanofi US