Sanofi Q2 Sales Down, but Plans to Fix Diabetes Division

For its second-quarter financial report, Paris-based Sanofi reported a decrease in net sales for the quarter of 5.7 percent, down to 8.176 billion euros. Sanofi Genzyme sales grew 14.1 percent, driven by Dupixent and consolidation of Bioverativ, which it acquired earlier this year. Bioverativ was a spinoff from Biogen. Bioverativ spun off from Biogen’s hemophilia unit in January 2017. Sanofi bought it for $11.6 billion in January 2018.

The company’s second-quarter earnings per share (EPS) rose 1.5 percent to 1.25 euros. Its Emerging Market sales grew 5.2 percent, with double-digit growth in China.

“In the second quarter, we achieved significant milestones in building our new rare Blood Disorder franchise and the successful continued execution of the global roll-out of Dupixent,” said Olivier Brandicourt, Sanofi’s chief executive officer, in a statement. “As the impact from the U.S. losses of exclusivity peaked in the second quarter, the growth of our diversified businesses largely compensated for these headwinds. We look forward to entering a new growth phase led by our increasing focus on Specialty Care and our leadership positions in Emerging Markets and Vaccines.”

Sanofi’s diabetes and cardiovascular franchises, however, which have struggled in the U.S. after it lost exclusivity for insulin drug Lantus, had a 9.4 percent on-year decline. Earlier this month, Sanofi told Dow Jones Newswires that it is attempting to convince intermediaries, particularly in the U.S., to approach its insulin products in a different way, in order to increase sales. It’s not clear if that will help since most companies in the diabetes market are struggling with U.S. pricing for insulin-related products.

MarketWatch writes, “On Tuesday the company again declined to specify which intermediaries it has been in talks with, as formulary decisions haven’t yet been announced. But a company spokesman confirmed that Medicare bids for 2019 have been submitted, with decisions expected in October. The company also confirmed that data from the Bright study, which has informed Sanofi’s new insulin unbundling strategy, will be presented to Medicare, but declined to comment on whether Medicare bundles its insulins.”

Overall, Sanofi Genzyme (Specialty Care) reported 14.1 percent growth, Sanofi Pasteur (Vaccines) reported a decrease of 15.7 percent, Diabetes & Cardiovascular reported a drop of 15.6 percent, Consumer Healthcare grew by 4.1 percent, and General Medicines & Emerging Markets dropped 3.7 percent.

In the quarterly conference call, Brandicourt indicated Sanofi is positioning itself for a new phase of growth. And with both its acquisition of Bioverativ and Ablynx, both in January, the company shows a heavy push into blood disorders. Ablynx’s most advanced pipeline product is caplacizumab for the treatment of acquired thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (aTTP).

PMLive notes, “A bright point was the rare blood disorder business bolted on with the $11.6 billion acquisition of Bioverativ, up 15.5 percent on a pro forma basis to 257 million euros, and Sanofi is hoping that the 3.9 billion euro takeover of antibody specialist Ablynx and lead rare disease drug caplacizumab will also pay off in the years to come.”

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