SHANGHAI, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Sanofi and Ping An Insurance Group Co of China Ltd. today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for strategic partnership to actively support the "Healthy China 2030" blueprint that positions health as an indispensable prerequisite for people's overall well-being as well as the foundation of China's economic and social progress.
Ping An and Sanofi will collaborate in three key areas: health awareness, quality of care and affordability of care. As the first of its kind, this partnership between a multinational healthcare company and a leading Chinese insurance group will help advance chronic diseases management, optimize the use of big data within healthcare, and explore innovative approaches towards collaborative healthcare funding.
Jessica Tan, Deputy CEO, COO and CIO of Ping An Insurance (Group), Olivier Brandicourt, CEO of Sanofi, Olivier Charmeil Executive Vice President, Sanofi, General Medicines & Emerging Markets, Alex Cruau, Consul General of France in Shanghai and Chunlin Jin, Director of Shanghai Health Development Research Center witnessed the signing of the MOU at Ping An headquarters in Shanghai. Jean-Christophe Pointeau, Country Chair of Sanofi China, and Ericson Chan, CEO of Ping An Technology, signed the MOU on behalf of both parties.
"As one of the first multinational pharmaceutical companies to have entered China more than 35 years ago, Sanofi is always at the forefront of providing innovative healthcare solutions for Chinese people," said Olivier Charmeil, Executive Vice President, Head of General Medicines and Emerging Markets. "We are pleased to join hands with Ping An that is not only a leading insurance company, but also a pioneer in the country's Internet-based healthcare ecosystem. Our shared vision over patient empowerment and online support to healthcare professionals lays a great ground for our future collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders."
Jean-Christophe Pointeau, Country Chair of Sanofi China, said the cooperation will focus on diseases that threaten the health of Chinese people, not only because it's where Sanofi China's expertise lies, but also in a bid to actively respond to the healthcare need of Chinese people. Over 300 million Chinese people suffer from chronic diseases, which are responsible for more than 85% of total deaths in the country. Take stroke as an example. There is one person suffering from stroke in every 6 seconds[1].
"The signing of the MOU marks powerful collaboration between two major companies. Sanofi is among top 3 multinational healthcare companies in China, with a leading position in prevention and management of chronic diseases and vaccine. Ping An is committed to becoming the leader in smart healthcare. Ping An's smart healthcare platform was ranked the world's No.1 in LUNA rankings and international competition on Retinal Image Analysis. Ping An now cooperates with several provincial healthcare authorities. We also have signed collaboration agreements with almost 50 hospitals to foster clinical applications at primary hospitals. In the public health field, Ping An leverages its world-leading big data technology in healthcare and artificial intelligence technology to establish models for predicting infectious diseases and chronic diseases in Chongqing and Shenzhen. The accuracy of the models can reach more than 90%," said Jessica Tan, Deputy CEO of Ping An Group. "In the past, cooperation between multinational companies and local insurers mainly targeted major and critical diseases such as cancer. Ping An is very glad to join hands with Sanofi to make full use of our respective experience and advantages. We will start from chronic diseases and expand the cooperation to cover multiple major diseases that threaten the health of Chinese people, as we aim at providing better services for more doctors and patients. The MOU will lay a foundation for our further cooperation in a broader field."
The signing of the MOU is an expansion of existing collaboration between the two companies. Sanofi and Ping An are working on a Clinical Decision Support System program in a bid to better understand how diabetes patients are treated, which will help the two companies to jointly offer integrated solutions to improve diabetes management in China.
[1] China Cardiovascular Diseases Report 2017 published in the first issue of "China Circulation Journal" in 2018
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