Kakao Healthcare and global pharmaceutical company Sanofi are joining forces on real-world evidence (RWE) research and artificial intelligence (AI) collaboration based on medical data. The two companies plan to build data-driven models applicable in actual clinical settings through joint research.
Kakao Healthcare and Sanofi Korea announced on the 6th that they signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the 3rd for "RWE research collaboration based on medical data and AI solution development."
The partnership was forged at the "Korea-France Business Leaders' Future Dialogue," held to mark the 140th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Korea and France. Observers noted the significance of the collaboration as a case of combining Korea's digital healthcare infrastructure with France's pharmaceutical and AI expertise.
The two companies plan to jointly conduct RWE research based on medical data and develop and advance AI models using federated learning. Federated learning is a technique that trains AI models without transferring data externally, enabling both privacy protection and data utilization simultaneously.
The division of roles has also been defined. Kakao Healthcare will provide the platform and technology for research based on actual clinical data, while Sanofi will contribute its AI and digital healthcare capabilities along with medical expertise.
Through this collaboration, the two companies plan to validate potential applications in areas such as early disease detection and personalized patient management. In particular, they will focus on AI-based analysis for early diagnosis of Fabry disease and on developing personalized management models for asthma patients.
"RWE is a core element of patient-centered healthcare," said Bae Kyung-eun, head of Sanofi Korea. "This collaboration will serve as a starting point for advancing clinical evidence research and expanding it into AI-based solutions."
Hwang Hee, CEO of Kakao Healthcare, also emphasized, "This partnership is meaningful in that it has laid the groundwork for implementing RWE research in actual clinical settings based on medical data. We will continue to develop research models that combine data and AI."