Sanofi sales on the rise in Q3

For French drugmaker Sanofi, the third quarter of 2013 marked the end of its patent cliff period and the beginning of its return to stronger sales growth. Sales in this quarter increased for the first time in five quarters by 0.6% to €8,432 million.

"The third quarter marks an inflection point for Sanofi as the impact of the patent cliff ended in August. As a result, we returned to sales growth in September. Our growth platforms grew 5.5% in the third quarter despite the shortage of pertussis-containing vaccines in the U.S. until mid-October, the impact of the market slowdown in China and our recovering generics business in Brazil. Growth platforms now represent 75% of our sales."

Sanofi Chief Executive Officer, Christopher A. Viehbacher.

Sanofi's Vaccines sector was affected by supply limitations of Pentacel and Adacel in the US, as well as the quarterly phasing of US flu vaccines sales, decreasing its sales by 7.2% to €1,300 million. However, Sanofi expects record flu sales in the Northern Hemisphere in the second half of 2013 resulting from its differentiated vaccines offerings.

On the other hand, Consumer Healthcare achieved strong sales growth, of +9.8%, reflecting notably the launch of Rolaids in the US and the improvement of its CHC business in China.

Genzyme also had a good third quarter, with sales growth of 21.1% to €529 million driven by the 11.1% growth of the rare disease franchise and the launch of MS drug, Aubagio.

US sales were up 5.2% to €2,982 million, with significantly lower impact of the patent cliff and strong performances from Diabetes (up 30.9%), Genzyme (up 40.1%) and CHC (up 16.4%). Emerging Markets performance was impacted by a slowdown of the Chinese pharmaceutical market and lower sales of Brazil generics.

Sanofi also received multiple approvals including: Lemtrada and Aubagio in the EU for multiple sclerosis and Nasacort Allergy 24HR for Over-the-Counter use in the US. The EU filing for Cerdelga (eliglustat) for the treatment of Gaucher's disease has also been accepted for review.

At the end of October 2013, Sanofi's R&D pipeline contains 51 projects (excluding Life Cycle Management) and vaccine candidates in clinical development of which 12 are in Phase III or have been submitted to the health authorities for approval.

Taking into account its expected return to growth in the fourth quarter and including the impact of extended vaccines shortage in the third quarter, Sanofi's outlook for 2013 is now expected to be at the lower end of previous guidance range.