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Exclusive Life Science Feature Right. change agent. During his six-year tenure at the federal agency, he initiated translational medicine, multidisciplinary research collaborations, and other programs, all to accelerate the progress of medical research. Although his campaign at NIH focused on the agency's support of scientists at universities and government labs, Zerhouni said that he has long regarded academic and industry R&D; as a highly interconnected and interdependent ecosystem. Despite his ecosystem connections, Zerhouni's ability to influence biopharmaceutical R&D; was limited before 2011. The Sanofi position has enabled him to reinvent R&D; from the inside of one of the major players in the biopharmaceutical industry. Under his leadership, Sanofi's R&D; now emphasizes the biology of disease, translational "R&D; in pharma has been isolating itself for 20 years, thinking that animal models would be highly predictive." On Time. experience partnership flexibility expertise innovation compliance transparency quality Elias Zerhouni, M.D., president of global R&D;, Sanofi research, and open innovation. Zerhouni felt that Sanofi leaders and scientists readily embraced his new initiatives. "The case for change was not hard to make," he said. "In the industry, we fail a lot, and we fail really late." Many failures in pharmaceutical development can be attributed to the lack of a deep understanding of disease biology during identification of drug targets, he added. "We don't understand the language of biology as well as we should to effectively translate it into real innovation." "IT'S THE BIOLOGY, STUPID" In a speech earlier this year on the future of genomic medicine, Zerhouni adapted the unofficial motto of President Bill Clinton's first presidential campaign, "It's the economy, stupid," to underscore his comments about the real reason for failures in drug development. "It's the biology, stupid," he said. Viehbacher recently echoed Zerhouni's comments when asked by Bloomberg News to explain why Sanofi wasn't investing resources in clinical studies on Alzheimer's disease, in contrast to several of the company's competitors. "I think we have to do a lot more basic science work to understand what's going on," said the Sanofi CEO. "We really, at best, partially understand the cause of the disease. It's hard to come up with meaningful targets." Sanofi's new commitment to the biology of disease does not signal the company's evolution into a basic sciences company or elimination of internal research. "Instead, we are getting closer to the basic sciences in academia," Zerhouni explained. August 2013 From DNA to API, CMC Biologics brings leading technical expertise to your project. CMC Biologics is a leading global biologics contract manufacturer, with cGMP compliant facilities in both the United States and Europe. Our innovative team is focused on complete customer satisfaction. CMC Biologics is your manufacturing partner of choice for clinical and commercial products, and services for every stage of your drug development. cmcbiologics.com CMC Biologics — United States +1 425.485.1900 CMC Biologics — Europe +45 7020 9470 LifeScienceLeader.com 33