Sanofi Names Chief Scientific Officer Gary Nabel As Sanofi Ebola Response Coordinator

PARIS, Nov. 18, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of its contribution to the global response to the Ebola epidemic, Sanofi announced today that it has appointed Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Gary J. Nabel, M.D., Ph.D., as its Ebola response coordinator.

In his mission, Dr. Nabel will:

• Identify how Sanofi can help advance countermeasures to contain the current outbreak
• Prioritize and foster opportunities to develop novel treatments for the future

"Given his past experience in public health epidemics as Director of the NIH Vaccine Research Center and his leadership in developing an Ebola vaccine at NIH, Dr. Nabel is uniquely qualified for this position," said Dr. Elias Zerhouni, M.D., President of Sanofi Global R&D. "Dr. Nabel is working with other organizations, including providing guidance to researchers based on the company's extensive experience in vaccine and drug development, to determine how Sanofi can assist in making progress with this global challenge."

To date, Sanofi's humanitarian contributions toward this effort have included:

• Supporting key humanitarian organizations including:
  • MAP International's Ebola Relief Response
  • Heart to Heart International's Emergency Intervention Program to Manage Ebola Viruses Disease (EVD) Cases in Liberia
  • CDC Foundation's Global Disaster Response Fund
  • The French Red Cross's READY Fund
• Volunteer work with "Stop Hunger Now" to deliver 20,000 meals to Liberia

"Working with our colleagues across the industry, Sanofi is helping to find ways to advance medicines to prevent or treat Ebola virus infection. We are also sharing our scientific, medical, regulatory, and manufacturing expertise with the World Health Organization, government and non-governmental organizations - public and private - in an effort to contain this epidemic," Dr. Nabel said.

About Ebola
Ebola virus disease (EVD), formerly known as Ebola hemorrhagic fever, is a severe, often fatal illness in humans. The virus is transmitted to people from wild animals and spreads in the human population through human-to-human transmission. The average EVD case fatality rate is around 50 percent. Case fatality rates have varied from 25 percent to 90 percent in past outbreaks.¹

As of Nov. 2, 2014, a total of 13,042 confirmed, probable, and suspected cases of Ebola virus disease (EVD) and 4,818 deaths have been reported in eight countries. This includes four cases and one death in the United States.²

As yet, no licensed treatment is proven to neutralize the virus but a range of blood, immunological and drug therapies are under development. There are currently no licensed Ebola vaccines, but two potential candidates are undergoing evaluation.¹

References

1. Ebola Virus Disease Fact Sheet. World Health Organization. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs103/en/. Accessed Nov. 7, 2014
2. Ebola Response Roadmap Situation Report. World Health Organization. http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/137510/1/roadmapsitrep_5Nov14_eng.pdf?ua=1. Accessed Nov. 7, 2014.

About Sanofi
Sanofi, a 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 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 labelling and other matters that could affect the availability or commercial potential of such product candidates, the absence of guarantee that the product 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, trends in exchange rates and prevailing interest rates, the impact of cost containment policies and subsequent changes thereto, the average number of shares outstanding 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, 2013. Other than as required by applicable law, Sanofi does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information or statements.

Contacts:

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140830/141709

SOURCE Sanofi