Sanofi buoyed by blockbuster eczema drug Dupixent

Sanofi expects to increase profits in the low double digits this year, helped by its blockbuster eczema and asthma drug Dupixent that is at the heart of chief executive Paul Hudson’s plan to overhaul the pharma group’s portfolio.

Hudson, who has led the French company since 2019, has set out an ambitious plan to reorganise the business towards areas such as cancer and immunology while cutting its reliance on diabetes and cardiac drugs.

Dupixent has been the growth engine and symbol of how Hudson wants to focus on more cutting-edge therapies. He has also reshuffled the Sanofi portfolio with asset sales, such as of its stake in Regeneron, and acquisitions worth €12.3bn of midsized biotech companies to gain access to innovative experimental drugs or technologies, such as Translate Bio last year in mRNA vaccines.

The group is also working on the carve-out of its active pharmaceutical ingredient business, called EUROAPI, which is expected in the first half of this year.

“We’re well on our way to building an innovative and renewed pipeline,” Hudson told reporters in Paris.

Sanofi’s revenues rose 4.1 per cent to €9.99bn in the fourth quarter, while earnings per share were €1.38, the company said on Friday. Both metrics came in largely in line with analysts’ forecasts, according to Jefferies.

Its earnings per share increased 15.5 per cent last year.

Sanofi’s shares have outperformed peers in the past year, rising almost 16 per cent compared with an 8 per cent rise for the Stoxx Europe 600 healthcare index. The company’s shares were up about 1 per cent on Friday morning, ahead of the French blue-chip CAC 40 index.

The outperformance came despite the pharmaceutical group’s long-awaited effort to bring a Covid-19 vaccine to market. Sanofi has been hit by delays to the jab, which it is developing with GlaxoSmithKline.

It said on Friday that it was aiming for the key clinical trials for the jab to be completed in the first quarter and that it would be useful as a booster despite arriving much later than rivals BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna.

Sanofi’s vaccine business grew by almost 7 per cent to reach €6.3bn last year, driven by strong sales of paediatric and influenza jabs.

The group increased its dividend by 4 per cent to €3.33 per share.