Sanofi is racing to raise the flag on meningitis awareness—literally. The Paris-based pharma is fittingly symbolizing the “race against time” that is the fight against rapidly progressing bacterial meningitis with its Meningitis Flag, which United Autosports’ #59 McLaren will bear while racing in this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans car race in France in June.
Meningitis is contracted by someone in the world every 15 seconds, Sanofi explained in a press release. While it’s largely preventable through vaccines such as Sanofi’s own MenQuadfi, infection of the most severe form, bacterial meningitis, can be fatal within just 24 hours and remains a significant global health threat, with cases on the rise since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As Sanofi races toward meningitis awareness, race cars will in parallel compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the world's oldest active endurance racing event. Each year, the car that covers the greatest distance in 24 hours is crowned the winner.
With more than 300,000 people typically in attendance, plus another over 140 million viewers watching the race from home, the campaign stands to bring meningitis awareness to a major world stage as Sanofi and its speedy partners look to underscore "the critical importance of vaccination, early detection, and symptom awareness,” the company said.
“Le Mans is the ultimate race against time—just like our fight against meningitis,” Sanofi’s vaccine head Thomas Triomphe explained in the company’s release, drawing further parallels between the company and car racing, as “science is our engine, partnerships our fuel, and awareness our finish line."
“When every second counts, we choose to race for lives,” Triomphe added.
Sanofi is already an established partner of McLaren Racing and now has hitched its meningitis wagon to two-time Le Mans winner United Autosports, a Wakefield, England-based motorsport team that pulled out wins in its class in 2020 and in 2024. The team is representing British carmaker McLaren Automotive as its official racing partner this year, which comes 30 years after a historic 1995 Le Mans victory for McLaren.
Aside from a “#DEFEATMENINGITIS” display on the car, team drivers Grégoire Saucy, Sebastien Baud and James Cottingham will also rep the Meningitis Flag’s yellow, purple and blue colors, which are to be further showcased at multiple touchpoints throughout the event. The #59 car was unveiled in Paris on April 29 in a “meaningful moment” that served as a “powerful reminder that when we unite with purpose, partnerships can spark change,” CEO Paul Hudson said in a LinkedIn post.
“For us, this is more than just a flag—it’s a call to action,” Vinny Smith, chief executive of the Meningitis Research Foundation, said in the announcement. “When people see it, we want them to think fast and act fast, so lives all over the world can be saved.”
The flag initiative dates back to 2023, when Sanofi worked with para-athletes Theo Curin, Davide Morana and Ellie Challis, all of whom who have been affected by meningitis, to co-create the flag with the Meningitis Research Foundation charity and its Confederation of Meningitis Organisations member network. The yellow semicircle, purple triangle and blue background symbolize the idea of “protect, support and defeat,” the company explained on its meningitis flag webpage.
Sanofi’s initial 2022 collaboration with McLaren racing, meanwhile, was centered on manufacturing, with the hope of applying the racing team’s digital and analytical expertise to Sanofi’s own operations.