As part of its contribution to the global response to the Ebola epidemic, Sanofi has appointed chief scientific officer Dr. Gary J. Nabel, M.D., Ph.D., as its Ebola response coordinator.

In his mission, Dr. Nabel will identify how Sanofi can help advance countermeasures to contain the current outbreak and prioritize and foster opportunities to develop novel treatments for the future.

"Given his past experience in public health epidemics as director of the NIH Vaccine Research Center and his leadership in developing an Ebola vaccine at NIH, Nabel is uniquely qualified for this position," said Dr. Elias Zerhouni, M.D., president of Sanofi Global R&D. "Nabel is working with other organizations, including providing guidance to researchers based on the company's extensive experience in vaccine and drug development, to determine how Sanofi can assist in making progress with this global challenge."

"Working with our colleagues across the industry, Sanofi is helping to find ways to advance medicines to prevent or treat Ebola virus infection. We also are sharing our scientific, medical, regulatory and manufacturing expertise with the World Health Organization, government and non-governmental organizations—public and private—in an effort to contain this epidemic,". Nabel said.