By Bhanvi Satija
LONDON (Reuters) -Sanofi on Friday reported third-quarter profit that beat forecasts, boosted by demand for blockbuster asthma drug Dupixent, but the French company flagged lower vaccination rates partly due to a “negative buzz” around vaccines.
Sanofi’s sales of its flu and COVID 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 on a media call 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 has ousted the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which makes vaccine recommendations.
Sanofi’s Roger said vaccines are essential 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.
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.
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.
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.
($1 = 0.8575 euros)
(Reporting by Bhanvi Satija; Editing by Jamie Freed and Jane Merriman)
