“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.