Sanofi, France’s biggest drugmaker, said profit may drop as much as 15 per cent this year, hurt by generic competition to its Plavix blood thinner and Avapro hypertension drug in the US.
Earnings per share, excluding some costs will probably decline by 12 per cent to 15 per cent at constant exchange rates, Paris-based Sanofi said in a statement yesterday.
Chief executive Chris Viehbacher has expanded in areas such as emerging markets and bought Genzyme in April to gain treatments for rare diseases, seeking to shield Sanofi from another wave of patent expirations.
Cheaper copies of Plavix and Avapro will wipe out about €1.4 billion in profit this year, when the impact of the so-called patent cliff is the greatest.
“2012 has been marked red in my diary for years,” Mr Viehbacher said in an interview on Bloomberg Television today. “We cannot compensate for that in one year but we can compensate over time. As we come out of the cliff, Sanofi is extremely well positioned for growth.” – (Bloomberg)
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