Bridgewater, NJ  – December 12, 2012 – Sanofi US announced today that Registries for All Diseases has been selected as the winner of the Collaborate Activate Innovation Challenge.

Registries for All Diseases will receive an award of $300,000 to create a comprehensive, crowdsourced, cross-disease registry to help accelerate translational research for over 1,000 diseases. The team consists of partnering organizations Genetic Alliance, CFIDS Association of America, National Psoriasis Foundation, and the Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

“Data can accelerate research and services, help us get better patient outcomes, and save money,” said Sharon Terry, President and CEO of Genetic Alliance, “But right now, this data is in silos and is not easily accessible to researchers. By creating a patient-centered research network that spans many diseases, people will be empowered to participate in their own health and can contribute data to advance the development of disease treatments.” The registry infrastructure will include robust privacy controls, allowing individuals to allow or decline access to data requests.

Registry for All Diseases was one of four teams selected to partake in the final phase of Collaborate Activate. Each of the finalists received a $25,000 award and mentorship from Sanofi team members and healthcare experts, drawing on the mentors’ insight to refine their solutions before presenting to the judges. This phase afforded the finalists the unique opportunity to access Sanofi’s expertise in preparation for a Finalist Event at the Newseum in Washington, DC, during which each team presented its solution to an independent, expert panel of judges. Sanofi received submissions from over 280 partnering organizations for solutions to help patients engage in their health across a broad range of therapeutic areas.

“Collaborate Activate embodies our commitment to improving health outcomes for patients by uniting the advocacy community to accelerate innovation,” said Anne Whitaker, President, North America Pharmaceuticals at Sanofi US.” Registries for All Diseases exemplifies the collaborative nature of the challenge by creating a multi-tiered solution that captures both common data across all diseases and disease-specific data, showcasing the expertise of each partnering organization.”

Collaborate Activate is an initiative of Sanofi’s Partners in Patient Health, which first announced the challenge in May 2012 at an event in Washington, DC. The challenge required two or more groups to collaborate in order to qualify for the contest and designed to promote sharing of complementary resources among partnering organizations

"Creating a registry of patients is the single most valuable action a rare disease community can take,” said David Meeker, MD, President and CEO of Genzyme, a Sanofi company. “The registry provides critical disease knowledge which makes that disease easier to study, increasing the probability a treatment can be developed. We congratulate the Registries for All Diseases team."

Sanofi US established the challenge with the belief that bringing together patient advocates creates a multiplier effect, and leads to innovative ideas that would not otherwise be possible. Registries for All Diseases proves how powerful this multiplier effect can be: together, the team intends to reach over 9,000 health organizations and 1,200 disease advocacy organizations. Utilizing data from such a broad network has the potential to have a tremendous impact on patient outcomes.

The runner-up in the Collaborate Activate Innovation Challenge is 21st Century Brain Trust, a self-administered, clinical-grade cognitive testing app to detect asymptomatic Alzheimer’s disease. In addition to anticipating the onset of Alzheimer’s, one of the team’s larger goals is to support a dialogue based on brain health rather than brain disease, empowering people to take control of their cognitive well-being. The team, comprised of the Geoffrey Beene Gives Back Alzheimer’s Initiative, the American Health Assistance Foundation, and the USAgainstAlzheimers Network, will receive $100,000 to further develop its solution.

To learn more about the Challenge, visit www.collaborateactivate.com, or visit the Collaborate Activate blog.

About Sanofi US “Partners in Patient Health”
Sanofi US’s Partners in Patient Health is a novel approach to partnering with the advocacy community by connecting people, ideas, and solutions to focus on critical issues that are of high importance and common across a wide range of advocates dedicated to advancing patient health.

About Sanofi
Sanofi, a global and diversified 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, rare diseases, 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. For more information on Sanofi US, please visit http://www.sanofi.us or call 1-800-981-2491. Sanofi US is also on Twitter at https://twitter.com/SanofiUS and and Facebook http://www.facebook.com/sanofiUS.

About Genetic Alliance
Genetic Alliance improves health through the authentic engagement of individuals, families, and communities. Genetic Alliance is the world’s leading nonprofit health advocacy organization committed to transforming health through genetics and works to connect consumers to the smart services they need to make informed decisions about their health and healthcare. Genetic Alliance’s network includes more than 1,000 disease-specific advocacy organizations, as well as thousands of universities, private companies, government agencies, and public policy organizations. For more information about Genetic Alliance, visit http://www.geneticalliance.org.

About CFIDS Association of America
The CFIDS Association of America is the largest and most active charitable organization dedicated to chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), also known as chronic fatigue and immune dysfunction syndrome (CFIDS). Since 1987, the Association has invested more than $30.4 million in initiatives to bring an end to the pain, disability and suffering caused by CFS. For more information about CFIDS Association of America, visit http://www.cfids.org.

About National Psoriasis Foundation
National Psoriasis Foundation works to find a cure for psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis and to eliminate their devastating effects through research, advocacy and education. For more information about National Psoriasis Foundation, visit http://www.psoriasis.org.

About the Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Foundation
The Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Foundation is dedicated to researching the cause of Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC), an advanced and accelerated form of breast cancer usually not detected by mammograms or ultrasounds. IBC can be diffuse throughout the breast with no palpable mass. Lymph node involvement is assumed. Inflammatory breast cancer requires immediate aggressive treatment with chemotherapy prior to surgery and is treated differently than other types of breast cancer. For more information about the Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Foundation, visit http://www.ibcresearch.org.