France-based pharmaceutical company Sanofi has launched a plan called the Sunrise Initiative to focus on early-stage innovation and will enlist venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and Sanofi to improve research and development, according to Forbes.
Katherine Bowdish, vice president, global research and development at Sanofi, will lead the project, overseeing a small team of scientists from Sanofi.
“Sharing Sanofi capabilities and resources with innovators on the outside will allow it to tap into white space initiatives without building large infrastructure, and enable innovators to move their programs along faster,” Bowdish said.
Sunrise’s involvement with start-ups will involve the co-creation of companies with venture capital firms, the potentially seeding of new start-ups and investment through series A stage.
Sanofi has so far invested in three early-stage companies through Sunrise. Earlier this week, it announced it is to provide up to $200m through 2018 to drug developer MyoKardia to develop targeted therapies for patients with genetic heart disease.