What Sanofi’s New Deal (and Boilerplate) Say About Its Strategy
A subtle shift in language reveals a sharper narrative and refocused company
When I saw the news of Sanofi’s $9.5B acquisition of Blueprint Medicines earlier this month, I was impressed not only with the scope of the deal, but also with the notable shift in Sanofi’s story, growing as a leader in immunology.
I noticed it in the language of the press release and, in particular, the Sanofi boilerplate at the end. (Yes, proof that I’m a healthcare story nerd).
For those who may not have spent careers poring over such things, the boilerplate is the very last part of a press release where companies say who they are. At its best, the boilerplate delivers a concise, well-structured signal of the company’s purpose, priorities and stakeholder value, ideally backed by proof.
More often than not, though, it’s a few uninspired sentences about transforming healthcare, putting patients at the center, and innovation.
To see this shift in Sanofi’s boilerplate was a clear sign to me that they’ve been actively reworking their narrative. In fact, they changed the boilerplate just a week before the Blueprint deal – clearly anticipating what was to come.
Up until that moment, Sanofi had this to say in their boilerplate:
About Sanofi (through May 2025)
We are an innovative global healthcare company, driven by one purpose: we chase the miracles of science to improve people’s lives. Our team, across the world, is dedicated to transforming the practice of medicine by working to turn the impossible into the possible. We provide potentially life-changing treatment options and life-saving vaccine protection to millions of people globally, while putting sustainability and social responsibility at the center of our ambitions.
Familiar, generic and safe. With nothing particularly differentiating, memorable or inspiring. Take out the mention of “life-saving vaccines protection” and it could describe any pharmaceutical company. Yet that’s what people read, and what gets echoed in Google searches, Wikipedia entries, generative AI. Our story travels farther than you think. And language like this doesn’t just describe your story, it becomes your story.
Contrast with this sharper articulation of their story, as seen in their new boilerplate:
About Sanofi (as of June 2025)
Sanofi is an R&D driven, AI-powered biopharma company committed to improving people’s lives and delivering compelling growth. We apply our deep understanding of the immune system to invent medicines and vaccines that treat and protect millions of people around the world, with an innovative pipeline that could benefit millions more. Our team is guided by one purpose: we chase the miracles of science to improve people’s lives; this inspires us to drive progress and deliver positive impact for our people and the communities we serve, by addressing the most urgent healthcare, environmental, and societal challenges of our time.
I find this shift remarkable, really.
Before: Sanofi = a purpose-led global pharma generalist, broadly committed to health impact through medicines, vaccines and a commitment to sustainability and social responsibility.
Now: Sanofi = an AI-powered immunology-driven biopharma leader translating immune system science into global impact.
Is the new boilerplate perfect? No. I suspect the use of “AI-powered” as a badge of innovation in the 2020s will fade faster than “e-biz” did in the early 2000s. And they’re “improving people’s lives” twice.
Is it better? Very much so. Especially the second sentence: Sanofi anchors its purpose in immunology, articulates the reach of its platform, and extends a forward-looking promise.
In changing the language, Sanofi signals clarity of purpose, stakeholder impact (patients, investors, employees), and a more confident and clear narrative.
Coverage of the deal didn’t miss the narrative shift: Sanofi wasn’t just buying a pipeline, it was reinforcing its repositioning as an immunology-first company.
Now, contrast the new Sanofi language with Blueprint Healthcare’s boilerplate, which is a study in specificity and focused storytelling. An excerpt: “We seek to alleviate human suffering by solving important medical problems in two core focus areas…”
Well said and, yes, easier to do when you have only two products. Still, there are plenty of companies smaller and more focused than Blueprint that don’t match its use of specific, grounded, yet inspiring language. This is a company that knows why it exists, and who and what it stands for. (A clarity that also helps explain why it’s worth $9 billion.)
As for Sanofi – telling a story succinctly and consistently isn’t easy for any company, much less a global pharma giant with dozens of products on the market and scores more in development. But if their new boilerplate is any indication, they’re moving from narrative generalities to specialties, and refining their story to match where they’re headed, not just where they’ve been.
Exactly what a good narrative should do.
