Bonjour Genzyme!

Last week I flew to Boston to speak to members of the French media about Sanofi’s acquisition of Genzyme. The French journalists were in town to cover the story from a “one year later” sort of perspective. They regularly cover Sanofi related news items, but Sanofi is new to the whole rare disease world and it was felt the best way for them to truly understand the latest edition to the Sanofi family was to visit Genzyme in person. Part of understanding Genzyme is understanding their unique relationship with their patients….enter moi!

Before I gave my presentation, Jamie from Genzyme talked about their patient advocacy department and why they feel it is essential to their success. A big….no, HUGE fear in the patient community was whether or not Sanofi would allow Genzyme to continue their business model in regards to patient relations. The Internet was ablaze with concerns about losing our case managers and local reps. Most of us depend on these people to guide us through the tangled world of rare disease treatment. The thought of having to navigate complicated insurance plans alone was frightening. Well, it is one year later and the impact on patient relations is basically a non-issue, in a good way. For most, it has been a seamless transition – which Sanofi was happy to hear. They reassured me that they never had any intention of cutting back on patient relations, that in fact it was one of the elements that drew them to Genzyme in the first place. It is good to know first hand that today, tomorrow, 6 months from now and beyond my case manager and local rep will still be there for me.

It was then my turn to present and I started out in French. I introduced myself then thanked them for coming and allowing me to share my story. Next I told them I was going to continue in English as my French wasn’t all that great. I took them through my “diagnostic oddessey” and explained how much my health has improved because of enzyme replacement therapy, diet, and exercise. They were a very engaged audience and asked loads of questions. I really enjoyed speaking with them, and hope I provided them with newsworthy information.

After lunch I met with members of the Pompe regulatory department. These are the folks who work with the wording on all the Pompe products and deal with the FDA. They have very little contact with patients so it was a treat for both them and me to meet and discuss Pompe.

Although I only spent about 27 hours in Massachusetts, I feel like a lot was accomplished. While there, I also got to catch up with ladies from patient advocacy and corporate communications over a couple of meals. At dinner I even met up with my Boston Marathon running partner. My runner from last year, Angela is not running this year so I was paired up with a new partner named Kai. She is amazing! She is an avid runner and has run the Boston Marathon in the past. She just had a baby a mere three months ago, yet is ready to hit the pavement next month with the rest of the Genzyme team as they all Run for Rare Diseases!