By Bhanvi Satija
LONDON (Reuters) -Sanofi reported stronger than expected third-quarter profit on Friday, boosted by demand for blockbuster asthma drug Dupixent, even as the French drugmaker flagged lower vaccination rates partly due to a “negative buzz” around vaccines.
Sales of Sanofi’s flu and COVID-19 vaccines dropped 16.8%, hit by pricing pressure in Germany and lower vaccination rates in the early U.S. season. Rates declined globally, in part due to a post-COVID fatigue.
“There might be a little bit of negative feeling about vaccines overall,” Sanofi’s chief financial officer François-Xavier Roger said after the results. “A little bit of negative buzz around vaccines.”
In the U.S., health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr has taken aim at vaccines, cutting funding for research and ousting the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which makes vaccine recommendations.
Roger said vaccines are key to prevent disease and as it was the beginning of flu season in the Northern Hemisphere it was difficult to predict future sales growth.
The company’s overall sales in the U.S. were up 11.1% at 6.84 billion euros, as other medicines offset vaccine weakness. Total global vaccines sales in the quarter were 3.36 billion euros ($3.92 billion), in line with analyst expectations.
Sanofi’s shares rose nearly 3% in early trade.
SANOFI IN ‘CONSTANT DISCUSSION’ WITH TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
CFO Roger said the company would “review the opportunity” to expand which medicines are sold directly to patients in the U.S., amid a concerted push by U.S. President Donald Trump to lower domestic drug prices.
Sanofi laid out plans last month to sell a month’s supply of any of its insulin products for $35 to all patients in the U.S. with a valid prescription.
Global drugmakers have ramped up efforts, such as direct-to-consumer programs, to lower U.S. drug prices as Trump presses them to align the cost of their medicines with what other comparable high-income countries pay.
“Sanofi is in constant discussion with the administration and policymakers,” Roger said, in reference to the drug pricing issue.
Trump has already struck deals with drugmakers including Pfizer, AstraZeneca and others to lower prices on Medicaid in exchange for tariff relief.
BLOCKBUSTER ASTHMA DRUG DUPIXENT BEATS FORECASTS
Quarterly sales of Sanofi’s blockbuster anti-inflammatory drug Dupixent, which Sanofi makes with partner Regeneron, were 4.16 billion euros, compared with 4 billion euros expected on average by analysts.
Sanofi is ramping up research spending and acquisitions to prepare for its growth beyond Dupixent, though investor hopes for the drug remain high given its use in new conditions.
Sanofi confirmed its forecast for sales growth of high-single-digits and earnings growth of low-double-digits this year at constant currency rates.
Business operating income in the quarter was 4.45 billion euros ($5.19 billion), compared to 4.15 billion euros expected on average by analysts in a company-provided poll.
($1 = 0.8575 euros)
(Reporting by Bhanvi Satija; Editing by Jamie Freed and Jane Merriman)
