Sanofi announces 2014 Patient Group Bursary Scheme winners

Sanofi has announced the winners of its annual Patient Group Bursary Scheme, which provides funding to projects that have provably aided patient empowerment and education.

The gold award, worth 25,000 pounds, went to the Older People's Advocacy Alliance, which supports, promotes and develops independent advocacy services for older people. Meanwhile, silver prize of 15,000 pounds went to TB Alert, a charity working to tackle tuberculosis worldwide.

Finally, the smaller patient group accolade winner was the charity Findacure, which promotes the search and development of treatments for extreme and rare genetic disorders. It was awarded funding of 10,000 pounds.

Over the past four years, the Patient Group Bursary Scheme has awarded money to 11 organisations operating across a wide range of disease areas.

Dr Mark Toms, medical director of Sanofi in the UK and Ireland, said: "We still continue to be impressed by the passion and unrelenting tenacity of patient groups in delivering exceptional programmes that make a lasting difference to the lives of patients across the UK."

The firm demonstrated its commitment to patient engagement with the launch of Mission T1D, an educational smart device app that will help children learn more about type 1 diabetes, earlier this month.