French pharma giant Sanofi announced on Saturday that it has decided to join hands with Medtronic to develop diabetes drug-device. Medtronic is a US-based firm.

Sanofi made the announcement at a time when the drugmaker is trying its best to remain at the second place in a global diabetes market which is worth at least $40 billion. It is to be noted that Lantus, the most prescribed insulin in the world, is all set to lose patent protection in 2015.

Sanofi and Medtronic have reached a memorandum of understanding under which the two companies will initially cooperate with each other on developing drug-device combinations. Both companies have also agreed to offer care management services for diabetes patients. The companies released a joint statement expressing their willingness to forge collaboration in some other areas of mutual interests.

Sanofi CEO Chris Viehbacher has said that the company's diabetes franchise is a growing franchise even beyond the patent expiry of Lantus. He added that the partnership with Medtronic will help in continuing the growth in the long run. Veihbacher, however, did not provide detailed forecasts.

The alliance will cover type 2 diabetes and bring together insulin portfolio of the French firm and insulin pumps and glucose monitoring of the American company. The deal will mainly focus on those patients who are not getting glucose control despite injecting themselves with insulin daily.

According to the International Diabetes Federation, round 382 million people across the world have diabetes. This disease is often associated with obesity. People suffering from this disease have inadequate blood sugar control which can even damage nerve and kidney.