Last checked at 
(Adds Verily CMO interview, background)
PARIS, Sept 12 (Reuters) - French drugmaker Sanofi and Verily, the life sciences unit of Google parent AlphabetInc, on Monday said they would invest about $500million in a joint venture combining devices with services toimprove diabetes care, an example of growing ties between thepharma and tech sectors.
Sanofi said last year it was working on a partnership withGoogle in diabetes.
"The company will leverage Verily's experience inminiaturised electronics, analytics, and consumer softwaredevelopment, with Sanofi's clinical expertise and experience inbringing innovative treatments to people living with diabetes,"the two companies said in a statement.
The Sanofi deal comes after British drugmakerGlaxoSmithKline and Verily - formerly Google LifeSciences - created a new company focused on fightingdiseases by targeting electrical signals in the body, a novelfield of medicine called bioelectronics.
Verily is also working on development of a smart contactlens in partnership with Swiss drugmaker Novartis thathas an embedded glucose sensor to help monitor diabetes.
Diabetes is an illness that involves keeping track of bloodsugar levels, diet, multiple medications and other healthissues, noted Verily Chief Medical Officer Jessica Mega.
"It's an area where we think new tools and sensors will beincredibly helpful," Mega said in a telephone interview.
"The idea is creating best-in-class biocompatible smallsensors" that could, for example, monitor blood glucose, shesaid.
"We want to ... figure out the right mechanisms to getinformation to patients. Over time we hope to get information topeople that is actionable," Mega said.
Nearly 400 million people worldwide have diabetes, with type 2 accounting for more than 90 percent of cases. Withoutproper treatment, it can lead to a wide variety of serioushealth complications.
The JV, called Onduo, "will initially focus on the type 2diabetes community, specifically on developing solutions thatcould help people make better decisions about their day-to-dayhealth, ranging from improved medication management to improvedhabits and goals," the companies said.
A spokeswoman for Sanofi said products on sale would includeconnected objects such as insulin pens and online services.
She said Sanofi had invested $248 million in the jointventure, in which the French group controls a 50 percent stake.
Sanofi is working hard to revive declining sales in itsdiabetes division, hurt by sustained pricing pressure in theUnited States, the world's largest health market. (Reporting by Matthias Blamont and Andrew Callus in Paris andBill Berkrot in New York; Editing by Geert De Clercq and AndrewHay)
