Prominent Biotech Company Donates Archives to HBS

Sanofi Genzyme, a Cambridge-based biotechnology company known for its research and development of drugs to treat rare genetic diseases, donated its corporate archives to the Harvard Business School’s Baker Library.

Genzyme’s donation is the Baker Library’s first foray into biotechnology, “part of an initiative to really try and document biotechnology in New England, ” according to Laura A. Linard, the library's director of special collections. Linard said the library's archives currently lack materials from modern companies.

The company's donation will largely be made up of papers and acquisition information mostly documenting the time before Sanofi—a French drug company—merged with Genzyme in 2011, and focus specifically on its focus on rare diseases. According to Linard, some materials containing patient cases may be off limits due to confidentiality, but the library will explore accessibility options as it moves forward.

Genzyme, now called Sanofi-Genzyme following the merger, has been in its Cambridge location for more than 30 years. What initially began as a local startup with a dozen employees has since developed into a global corporation with thousands of employees, according to Julie M. Higgins, Genzyme corporate communications manager.

“The goal is to have a collection that demonstrates how we came to be, and how we were a pioneer in innovative drugs, and how we evolved from a startup to where we are now,” Higgins said.

According to Higgins, the partnership with the Business School has been in the works for years.

“We have changed a lot, and the evolution of that is interesting, and we want to ensure that the legacy of Genzyme is never lost,” Higgins said of the company’s decision to donate materials. “Because now we are Sanofi, which is great, but we don’t want to lose who we are.”

She added that the company’s “being so rooted” in Cambridge makes it a fortuitous partnership and noted that the company has a manufacturing facility next to the Business School’s campus.

The collections will not be available until all of the materials are gathered—a process Linard said could be lengthy. However, once ready, the archives will be accessible to students and faculty across Harvard for research. At the Business School, one way this research could manifest itself is through the development of new case studies.

–Staff writer Julia E. DeBenedictis can be reached at julia.debenedictis@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @Julia_DeBene.