Fast-Tracking Hope: How Our Translational Medicine Team is Changing the Drug Development Game
A single diagnosis can alter the course of a life.
For patients, it marks the beginning of a journey they never chose—one filled with questions, uncertainty, and the unshakable hope that science will move fast enough to help them. As treatment options become fewer, time seems to slow down, and for some, every day without an answer is another day lost.
Yet as a patient embarks on this journey, so too does something else—the potential medicine that could turn their hope into reality. What begins in a petri dish must survive the realities of human biology, the scrutiny of clinical trials, and the test of regulatory approvals.
At the crossroads for patients and medical innovation stand the people who refuse to let either fall through the cracks. This is the work of our newly formed efforts in translational medicine, led by Karin Wåhlander, MD, PhD, Senior Vice President and Global Head of the Translational Medicine Unit.
What is Translational Medicine?
According to Karin, translational medicine can be defined in many ways, but at its core it’s a seamless process with many interconnected steps. “Here, end-to-end thinking is essential,” she emphasizes. “You can’t build a vehicle if you don’t know whether you’re making a car or a truck.”
Under her leadership, our approach is different: we start with the end goal—a medicine that transforms lives. “We start with the big vision, then work backwards,” she explains. “We decide what we need for a phase 3 trial, then for a phase 2 trial, and so on. This allows us to make early and crisp decisions.”
Translational Medicine at Sanofi
Traditionally, drug development followed a linear, stepwise approach, with research and development functioning as separate, sequential processes. Determining critical factors like the first safe dose in humans, or predicting an optimal therapeutic dose, required input from teams working separately. This structure can lead to gaps in knowledge, inefficiencies, and delays, slowing the journey from discovery to patient-ready treatment.
At Sanofi, we are changing this by fostering real-time collaboration and accelerating data sharing, creating a smarter, more cohesive approach to advancing promising treatments with greater confidence.
How is Translational Medicine Changing the Way We Work?
Translational medicine plays a crucial role in reducing the time it takes for new treatments to reach patients. At Sanofi, this means integrating human data earlier in the development process to confirm which potential medicines have real promise before advancing into late-stage trials.
By refining dosing strategies sooner and leveraging cutting-edge tools—such as biomarkers, genetic profiling, and AI-powered analytics—we can better predict treatment outcomes and match the right therapies to the right patients.
This connected approach helps reduce late-stage failures and accelerates the journey from discovery to real-world impact. And at the heart of it all is the patient. By embedding patient insights early, we design clinical trials that reflect real-world challenges, ensuring that every breakthrough is not only scientifically sound but also meaningful and accessible to those who need it most.
Building Culture and Leadership
The journey from discovery to medicine is often unpredictable, shaped by new data, changing needs, and unexpected challenges. For Karin, agility, empowerment, and open communication play a key role in their success. “For me, leadership is about creating space for ideas to grow,” she explains, “I see it as giving people their own gardens and trusting that they’ll nurture them. And although I set the direction, I’m pleased when they dare to challenge me. It forces me to listen to what they’re saying.”
This collaborative philosophy allows diverse perspectives to surface, driving real-time innovation. Karin sums it up simply, “We have to talk to each other, not only to collaborate, but to really understand the human impact of what we’re doing.”
Looking Ahead
By continuously incorporating patient voices, leveraging data-driven insights, and utilizing Human Target Validation approaches to evaluate innovations early in patients, we gain a deeper understanding of human pathophysiology. This enables clearer, more informed decision-making and is reshaping the way medicines are developed and delivered.
For me, it’s about changing our mindset. We have this fantastic opportunity to make the translational medicine process smarter and more connected to the patients we serve.
Karin Wåhlander, MD, PhD
Senior Vice President and Global Head of the Translational Medicine Unit
Because just as a diagnosis can change everything, so too can the right medicine at the right time. At Sanofi, we are accelerating innovation—because when time matters, science must move faster.
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