Ron Leuty Reporter San Francisco Business Times
Google Inc. and drug developer Sanofi are joining forces to develop and streamline tools for managing diabetes.
The end game: reducing the risk of complications and ultimately lowering the cost of managing type 1 and type 2 diabetes for nearly 30 million patients in the United States and nearly 400 million worldwide.
The move comes as questions swirl about Google's future in health care, following the Mountain View-based company's (NASDAQ: GOOG) decision to move its life sciences unit from the Google X R&D division into a standalone company under the control of its new overarching Alphabet company.
Sanofi (NYSE: SNY), based in Paris, is one of the leading diabetes drug and device sellers.
There is a huge opportunity in diabetes, Google said in a statement. Patients use devices, apps and pieces of paper all try to keep track of food intake, but those methods are largely unintegrated and only a third of patients with type 1 diabetes meet their target blood sugar levels. That can lead to long-term complications, such as heart disease, stroke and nerve damage.
"With new technologies emerging to provide a more continuous and real-time view of a patient's health, we can see the promise for more proactive and effective ways to control diabetes," Andy Conrad, CEO of Google's life sciences team, said in a press release.
Google's highest-profile moonshot to date has come in the aging-related company Calico Life Sciences LLC, led by former Genentech Inc. CEO Art Levinson. But it also is working with Novartis AG on a "smart" contact lens with a miniaturized glucose sensor, a Star Trek-like Tricorder for early detection of disease and Liftware for Parkinson's disease patients who have trouble lifting and controlling utensils.
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