China’s Ping An Group partners with Sanofi, facilitating the “Healthy China” initiative with smart healthcare

SHANGHAI, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- On May 29, 2018, Ping An Insurance Group Co of China Ltd.("Ping An Gorup") and Sanofi announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for strategic partnership in Shanghai. Ping An and Sanofi will collaborate in three key areas: health awareness, quality of care and affordability of care. As the first of its kind, this partnership between a multinational healthcare company and a leading Chinese insurance group will help advance chronic diseases management, optimize the use of big data within healthcare, and explore innovative approaches towards collaborative healthcare funding, in a move to support the implementation of the "Healthy China" initiative.

Jessica Tan, Deputy Group CEO, Chief Operation Officer (COO) and Chief Information Officer (CIO) of Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Olivier Brandicourt, CEO of Sanofi, Olivier Charmeil, Executive Vice President of General Medicines & Emerging Markets, Alex Cruau, Consul General of France in Shanghai and Chunlin Jin, Director of Shanghai Health Development Research Center witnessed the signing of the MOU at Ping An headquarters in Shanghai. Jean-Christophe Pointeau, Country Chair of Sanofi China, and Ericson Chan, CEO of Ping An Technology, signed the MOU on behalf of both parties.

Ms. Tan explained that, in recent years, Ping An has been focused on the application of leading-edge technologies in the smart healthcare field, with the aim of becoming a leader in artificial intelligence (AI). Sanofi is not only a top-tier multinational pharmaceutical company, but also a leader in the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases. The cooperation will help promote the growth of the healthcare industry and set a good example for the development of smart healthcare.

Previously, cooperation between Chinese insurers and multinational companies mainly focused on serious diseases including cancers. This time, Ping An Group and Sanofi will leverage their experience and advantages, starting with chronic diseases and then expanding to the main diseases that present an overall threat to the health of the Chinese population, providing better services for physicians and patients at primary hospitals and laying a foundation for deeper and broader cooperation in the future.

Based on its smart healthcare platform, Ping An Group's subsidiary Ping An Technology, the implementer of the project, will be engaged in the application and development of leading-edge technologies including AI algorithms and models as well as big data and will develop AI-based disease screening, risk prediction and clinical decision support system (CDSS) products. "Healthcare is closely related to people's lives. Ping An Technology has extensive experience in disease screening and prediction, and has established partnerships with nearly 50 hospitals for its integrated smart healthcare platform, which has been in clinical use at primary hospitals," the Ping An Technology CEO, Mr. Chan, said.

The Shanghai-based French consul general, Mr. Cruau, congratulated the strategic cooperation, saying: "We are happy to witness the cooperation between the two companies. Sanofi is the largest biopharmaceutical company in France and Ping An is a leading financial services group in China. I look forward to seeing the chemistry between the two companies during their cooperation, a cooperation that is certain to facilitate the economic, healthcare and social development of the two nations."

As one of the first multinational pharmaceutical companies to have entered China more than 35 years ago, Sanofi is always at the forefront of providing innovative healthcare solutions for Chinese people," said Olivier Brandicourt, CEO of Sanofi. "We are pleased to join hands with Ping An that is not only a leading insurance company, but also a pioneer in the country's Internet-based healthcare ecosystem. Our shared vision over patient empowerment and online support to healthcare professionals lays a great ground for our future collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders."

About Ping An

As China's first joint stock insurance company, Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. ("Ping An") strives to become a world-leading technology-powered personal financial services group. Today, it is an integrated, compact, multi-functional financial services group with services that include insurance, banking, and investment. As of 31 December, 2017, the Group had over 166 million retail customers. At the end of December 2017, the Group's consolidated total assets reached RMB6.49 trillion, while equity attributable to share holders of the parent company stood at RMB 473,351 million. Ping An Life and Ping An Property & Casualty are both ranked as the second largest in China, and Ping An Annuity is the top-ranked in China in their respective areas by premium income.

Its subsidiary Ping An Bank is China's first joint stock bank. The Company's key areas of business include investment, with subsidiaries such as Ping An Trust,Ping An Securities and Ping An Asset Management. Furthermore, Ping An strives to develop internet finance, including Lufax, Ping An Good Doctor, Ping An Haofang, E-Wallet, One Connect, Ping An Healthcare Management Services, Wanjia Healthcare. It has achieved significant growth in both the scale and user base of internet finance. As of 31 December, 2017, the number of internet users of the Company reached 436 million.

Ping An ranked 16^th in Forbes' 2017 Global 2000, and it ranked 39^th in Fortune Magazine's 2017 Global 500 Leading Companies. Ping An also ranked 61^st in WPP Millward Brown's BrandZ^TM Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands.

For more information, please visit http://t.sina.com.cn/pingan, http://t.qq.com/pingan or www.pingan.com.cn.

About Ping An Technology

Ping An Technology, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ping An Group, is committed to using AI, intelligent cognition, blockchain, cloud and other cutting-edge technologies to create a new cloud-based life for people. As a subsidiary, Ping An Technology is the high-tech core and tech business incubator among Ping An Group, and be responsible for the development and operation of the critical platforms and services for Ping An Group. As an independent entity, with smart technology as a means and smart manufacturing as a blueprint, Ping An technology focuses on the finance, healthcare and smart city areas, applies the technological capabilities certified by international authoritative certifications to actual business scenarios, creates a closed-loop ecosystem, and actively practices the corporate philosophy of changing life with technology.

More than 4,000 IT professionals and management experts form a high-level R&D force to provide expert-level technical support for the stable and reliable operation of the platform. The established cloud ecosystem has already carried over 400 million of Internet users.

About Sanofi China

In 1982, Sanofi opened its first office in China. Sanofi China has a diversified business that ranges from pharmaceuticals to human vaccines (Sanofi Pasteur). Sanofi's China headquarters in Shanghai are supported by 11 branches in Beijing, Tianjin,Shenyang, Jinan, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Wuhan, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Fuzhou and Urumqi. As of 2016, Sanofi had around 9,000employees in China.

Sanofi has three manufacturing facilities in China to meet the increasing demand of the China market. These plants are located in Beijing, Hangzhou and Shenzhen.

With Shanghai as headquarter of Sanofi China R&D and Asia Pacific R&D Hub, Sanofi's capabilities span the entire R&D value chain from drug target identification to late-stage clinical studies. Sanofi focuses on China and Asia Pacific's unmet medical needs, such as liver diseases, diabetes, oncology and cardiovascular diseases.

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SOURCE Ping An Technology