Viz.ai partners with Sanofi and Regeneron to use AI for advancing COPD care across U.S. hospitals

In a significant healthcare technology development, Viz.ai has announced a strategic multi-year collaboration with global healthcare leaders Sanofi and Regeneron to enhance the management and early detection of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) using artificial intelligence. The partnership centers around the deployment and evaluation of Viz.ai’s proprietary AI module tailored for COPD, designed to identify high-risk patients earlier, streamline care coordination, and improve long-term outcomes.

COPD remains one of the world’s most underdiagnosed and undertreated respiratory conditions, despite its growing prevalence and high burden on healthcare systems. Through this collaboration, Viz.ai, Sanofi, and Regeneron aim to change that narrative by integrating real-time AI technology with electronic health records (EHRs) to proactively identify and escalate care for vulnerable patients.

Why is AI integration crucial in COPD management?

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease affects approximately 392 million individuals worldwide and is the fourth leading cause of death globally. As a progressive lung disease that limits airflow and worsens over time, COPD often goes undiagnosed until advanced stages due to a lack of early screening, inconsistent care coordination, and systemic gaps in care delivery.

By embedding artificial intelligence directly into clinical workflows, the Viz COPD module seeks to close those gaps. The system will utilize natural language processing to analyze EHR data, enabling healthcare providers to detect patterns that signal high-risk COPD patients. These flagged cases can then be prioritized for timely intervention in line with clinical guidelines, potentially slowing disease progression and reducing hospitalizations.

According to Dr. Paul Rowe, Head of Medical for Specialty Care at Sanofi, the joint initiative is a proactive response to COPD’s persistent underfunding and clinical neglect. He noted that deploying a streamlined, AI-enabled EHR tool could meaningfully improve care access and patient outcomes for a disease area that has historically received less attention compared to other noncommunicable diseases.

What role will Viz.ai’s platform play in transforming COPD detection and triage?

Viz.ai’s COPD module is part of the broader Viz.ai One® platform, already operational in more than 1,700 hospitals and healthcare systems across the U.S. and Europe. The platform serves over 60,000 healthcare providers, using AI-driven tools to detect suspected disease, inform treatment decisions at the point of care, and streamline care pathways.

The newly introduced COPD module builds upon Viz.ai’s established expertise in acute care and neurovascular disease management, where the company has successfully applied AI to accelerate stroke detection and improve outcomes. Leveraging that foundation, the COPD-focused solution is engineered to work in real time, scanning unstructured clinical notes and structured EHR fields to flag at-risk individuals based on documented symptoms, history of exacerbations, and spirometry results.

By automating the triage and identification process, the platform enables physicians and care teams to take proactive steps earlier in the disease trajectory, potentially delaying disease progression and reducing the overall burden on healthcare systems.

How are Sanofi and Regeneron contributing to this AI-driven initiative?

Sanofi and Regeneron bring deep domain expertise in respiratory medicine and biologic therapies for COPD and related inflammatory diseases. As part of the collaboration, both companies will support the deployment of the AI workflow solution in select healthcare environments, while contributing scientific and medical insights to validate the efficacy of the Viz COPD module.

The initiative aligns with their broader mission to personalize care pathways and improve therapeutic outcomes using digital tools. By investing in intelligent care coordination technologies, the pharmaceutical partners aim to facilitate better disease identification, ensure appropriate therapy initiation, and support health systems in driving quality metrics around COPD care.

In recent years, both Sanofi and Regeneron have increased their strategic focus on digital health collaborations that can augment patient access and treatment adherence. Their involvement signals growing confidence among large biopharma companies in the ability of AI to not only enhance drug delivery but also shape how diseases are diagnosed and managed at scale.

What does this mean for the future of AI in chronic disease care?

The collaboration underscores a growing trend where AI is no longer viewed as an ancillary support tool but as a critical enabler of real-time, data-driven healthcare delivery. With a specific focus on diseases that are historically difficult to manage due to their chronic nature, such as COPD, the adoption of AI-based solutions could mark a turning point in proactive care models.

Chris Mansi, CEO and co-founder of Viz.ai, emphasized that the partnership is a major milestone in the company’s mission to extend AI-driven coordination across disease states with critical unmet needs. He stated that the initiative aims to empower clinicians to implement guideline-based, data-informed care that has measurable effects on outcomes.

Given the scale of Viz.ai’s existing platform infrastructure and the clinical capabilities of Sanofi and Regeneron, the COPD module has the potential to rapidly scale across hospitals and health systems. If successful, this model could be replicated for other chronic conditions such as heart failure, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease, where early intervention and coordinated care can significantly impact patient trajectories.

Why is this partnership strategically significant for the healthcare ecosystem?

This collaboration between a digital health innovator and two pharmaceutical giants reflects a broader convergence of health tech and biopharma. It highlights how strategic partnerships can unlock value at the intersection of technology, clinical care, and commercial outcomes. The ability to derive actionable insights from EHRs using AI offers a compelling pathway to enhance therapeutic efficiency, improve population health management, and reduce the overall cost of care.

For hospital systems, the Viz COPD module represents an opportunity to introduce automation into risk identification and care planning. For pharma companies like Sanofi and Regeneron, it offers a platform to optimize real-world evidence generation and support precision treatment approaches. And for patients, it could mean faster diagnoses, better access to specialized care, and improved disease outcomes.

As healthcare increasingly shifts toward value-based care models, technology that enables targeted intervention and real-time patient engagement is gaining traction. Partnerships like this one are likely to become more prevalent as stakeholders align on the shared goal of delivering timely, high-quality, and cost-effective care.