Our Human-Centric Approach to Partnership Amidst an Evolving Biotech Landscape

On top of that, the biotech industry is facing a funding crunch, making partnerships a lifeline for many companies. These collaborations offer biotechs both financial and non-financial benefits, including non-dilutive capital, access to research, clinical trial and regulatory capabilities and support, and the ability to share costs and infrastructure. As a result, some products can become a major success. In fact, Sanofi’s largest revenue comes from a product that originated and is still part of a partnership. As Vnuk notes, “This fact is more than a line on a balance sheet; it’s a core part of our DNA and proof of our long-term commitment to nurturing science beyond our own walls.”

Looking ahead, several trends are shaping the future of partnerships across the industry. One important shift is the growing focus on collaborations that bring early-stage assets—particularly Phase I programs—into development pipelines. At the same time, innovation hubs in China continue to play a critical role. “We need to source the best innovation from anywhere,” Vnuk notes. Beyond these changes, new technologies such as AI and robotics are influencing how research and development are conducted, and their impact is expected to be transformational and disruptive. While some speculate about models that could bring treatments closer to patients, these ideas remain exploratory and will evolve over time.

The ways partnerships are carried out are evolving too. For Vnuk, this flexibility is a strategic imperative. “In a challenging market,” she insists, “our role as a major partner is to find creative ways to ensure that promising science doesn’t die for temporary financial reasons. Great ideas deserve a chance to succeed.” That’s why Sanofi is utilizing various deal constructs, including option agreements, and equity investments with right of first negotiation to encourage innovation and ensure promising science has a path forward.

“At Sanofi, partnering isn’t a side business—it’s a strategic priority,” she says. There are several common misconceptions about partnering’s role. Some assume success comes from the volume of deals, but activity alone doesn’t equal productivity. Others believe cheaper deals are better, but Vnuk notes a low price doesn’t make an asset strategically valuable. A partnership only matters if it strengthens the pipeline and advances the company’s long-term goals.

Many collaborations fall apart because companies sideline the partner’s expertise. Those missteps, she notes, are exactly what Sanofi works hard to avoid. Vnuk adds that strategic structures like Sanofi’s alliance management team have been key to its success. This group supports partners across the whole spectrum of drug development. The team sits above individual departments, giving them a bird's-eye view of both the company and partner’s perspective. “This structure is a deliberate choice, designed to ensure objectivity and prevent internal priorities from sidelining a partner’s voice,” she says. “It’s part of our code for how we work with partners and reflects our commitment to fairness.”

When approached for partnerships, “we aim to be quicker with decisions, including a thoughtful no,” Vnuk says. This allows potential partners to focus on parties that may move their science forward, and it frees up Sanofi’s bandwidth to focus on opportunities it may pursue.

Sanofi’s partnerships stand out for their ability to leverage scale and expertise while maintaining transparency. Rather than competing for resources, the company brings significant R&D and commercial capabilities to collaborations—particularly in Immunoscience —where its involvement can create meaningful impact. Sanofi also has a strong track record of working with smaller organizations, supporting their growth and helping advance innovative science.

To that end, “we want to add earlier clinical (PHASE 1) drugs into the pipeline,” Vnuk says. This focus on Phase I signals Sanofi’s willingness to engage early and help shape the development journey alongside its partners, rather than simply waiting to acquire late-stage assets.

While most of Sanofi’s deals happen in its four core therapeutic areas, the company is open to future growth areas. “We are expanding in neurology, including Alzheimer’s disease, and are building a pipeline of Phase I and Phase II programs to support this move,” Vnuk says, while actively considering future moves in cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.

Deciding when to buy an asset, build it, or partner is a strategic choice. If off-the-shelf solutions exist, it doesn’t make sense to reinvent them. “But for unproven technology, it is better to partner,” she explains. This way, Sanofi reduces risk and avoids sinking money into something that may not work.

Vnuk is pragmatic about the distinct roles in the ecosystem. “Platforms require a singular focus to mature, something biotechs are exceptionally good at,” she explains. “Our strength lies in identifying the most promising assets to bring into our development engine.” It’s about playing to respective strengths. In recent years, Sanofi has been working to strengthen its early-stage clinical pipeline, which requires assets that are already identified. Still, it has collaborated with several platform companies when it makes strategic sense, aiming to be a value-added partner.

The best way to judge a partnership is whether it created an asset that helps patients. But, Vnuk adds, not every successful partnership has to result in a blockbuster. Sometimes a collaboration teaches scientists new skills and new approaches. Those partnerships, she says, “pay dividends for years to come.” She concludes, “While the learnings are invaluable, the ultimate measure of any partnership’s success will always be the tangible, life-changing value we deliver to patients.”