Kakao Healthcare and Sanofi Korea partner on real-world medical data research
Kakao Healthcare and Sanofi Korea signed a memorandum of understanding Friday to conduct pilot studies using medical data for real-world evidence (RWE) and develop AI solutions together. The agreement was signed at the Korea-France Business Community Future Dialogue in Seoul, timed to French President Emmanuel Macron's visit marking 140 years of diplomatic relations between the countries.
The collaboration pairs Korea's digital healthcare infrastructure with Sanofi's pharmaceutical and AI expertise. Kakao Healthcare will provide its platform and technology for research based on clinical data. Sanofi will contribute its AI capabilities and medical expertise.
What the partnership covers
The two companies will jointly conduct RWE studies and develop AI models using federated learning-a method that trains algorithms across distributed data sources without centralizing sensitive information. The goal is to improve patient health and accelerate medical research.
They plan to explore applications across multiple diseases. In Fabry disease, they'll work on AI-based early diagnosis tools. For asthma, they'll develop models for personalized patient management and treatment optimization.
Why this matters for healthcare professionals
Real-world evidence derived from actual clinical data differs from traditional clinical trials. It reflects how treatments perform in everyday practice across diverse patient populations. This approach helps identify patterns that controlled studies might miss.
For healthcare professionals, the partnership signals growing use of AI for Healthcare in drug development and patient care. The federated learning approach also addresses a persistent challenge: conducting Data Analysis on sensitive medical information without moving data to centralized servers.
Sanofi Korea General Manager Bae Kyung-eun said the collaboration "will combine Sanofi's AI and digital healthcare capabilities with Kakao Healthcare's RWE platform technology" to advance clinical evidence-based research.
Kakao Healthcare CEO Hwang Hee said the partnership "lays the groundwork for implementing RWE research based on medical data in real-world clinical settings."
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