Sanofi has initiated a strategic collaboration with Foundation Medicine, a molecular information company that conducts cancer genome analysis. Foundation will use its genomic sequencing and analytic capabilities to identify genetic biomarkers and potential companion diagnostics for select Sanofi oncology drug candidates. This is Foundation Medicine’s fifth major pharmaceutical company alliance, each of which utilizes the company’s comprehensive technology for providing a fully informative molecular cancer profile. Terms of the alliance were not disclosed.

“Sanofi and Foundation Medicine share a commitment to new clinical solutions that address individual patient needs,” said Donald A. Bergstrom, M.D., Ph.D., associate vice president and global head, translational and experimental medicine at Sanofi. “Sanofi is focused on increasing innovation in R&D through networks of creativity that can harness complex science to enable targeted therapies for patients. Foundation Medicine is an ideal collaborator in this mission.”

Foundation Medicine’s core cancer diagnostics capability is a comprehensive cancer genomic test that provides physicians with genomic information that may help match patients with treatments or clinical trials specific for the genomic profile of their tumor.

Michael J. Pellini, M.D., president and chief executive officer of Foundation Medicine, remarked, “Targeted cancer therapeutics routinely demonstrate improved clinical safety and efficacy when matched with the patients most likely to benefit, and we believe this alliance with Sanofi will help catalyze the development of their targeted candidates.”