Sanofi inks research pact with Lead Pharma to develop treatments for autoimmune diseases

Sanofi has entered into a research collaboration and license agreement with Lead Pharma,  a Dutch biotech company, to discover, develop and commercialize small-molecule therapies directed against the nuclear hormone receptors called ROR gamma (t) to treat a broad range of autoimmune disorders, including rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and inflammatory bowel disease, which are among the most common.

"Anti-ROR gamma (t) therapies represent a ground-breaking opportunity that we are eager and motivated to pursue through our collaboration with Lead Pharma," said Christian Antoni vice president and head of the immunology & inflammation franchise, research & development, Sanofi. "At Sanofi, we believe networked innovations - working collaboratively across science sectors - is the most effective way to bring meaningful new therapies to patients. To this end, Lead Pharma's innovative capabilities and productivity, exemplified by the ROR gamma (t) programme, make them ideal partners for Sanofi in this area of drug discovery."

Sanofi net moves up by 9% to € 2.7 bn in Q3

Sanofi, a French pharma giant, has posted satisfactory performance during the third quarter ended September 2014 and its net profit increased by 9.3 per cent to € 2,716 million from €2,484 million in the corresponding period of last year. Its net sales grew by 4.1 per cent to €8,781 million from €8,432 million. EPS improved to €1.47 from €1.36 in the last period. Its R&D expenditure declined by 3 per cent to €1,146 million reflecting lower spend on oncology.

Christopher A Viehbacher, CEO, said, “We are pleased with our performance in the third quarter. We achieved solid business EPS growth driven by continued strong contribution from our growth platforms, allowing us to confirm 2014 outlook. Growth platforms reached over 78 per cent of sales and grew 10 per cent. We have recently seen a more challenging US diabetes price environment which will impact our diabetes sales throughout 2015, while growth platforms globally are expected to continue to show solid growth. At the same time, our pipeline delivered strong results, with the release of exciting phase III data for alirocumab and our Dengue vaccine, the entry of dupilumab in phase III as well as the FDA approval of Cerdelga and the licensing of Afrezza.”

KaloBios regains rights to KB001-A

KaloBios Pharmaceuticals, has recently provided an update on the status of the KB001-A development programme, including an update on its KB001-A collaboration with Sanofi Pasteur.

KaloBios has reached an agreement with Sanofi Pasteur to regain all rights to KaloBios' KB001-A programme. Under this agreement, the collaboration and licencing agreement entered into in 2010 has been terminated. Under that collaboration agreement, Sanofi Pasteur had been developing KB001-A, a patented monoclonal antibody targeting Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Pa), for Pa pneumonia prevention in the intensive care setting while KaloBios had been developing KB001-A for chronic treatment of Pa lung infections in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients.

Fare well - Pharma

The leading 50 pharma companies from the state registered EBDITA margins of 23.9 per cent during 2012-13 as against 22.1 per cent and net profit margins of 13.9 per cent as compared to 10.9 per cent in the previous year. These companies rewarded their investors with handsome dividends.

While on one hand the loss of patent and depreciation of rupee against US dollar may boost revenues in the current year, on the other hand, expanded scope of drug price control may have an adverse impact on both revenue and profitability. The global pharmaceutical environment remained volatile and challenging due to lower R&D successes, competition among generic players and gradual decline in realisations. Stringent approval process, quality problems and legal fights also led to increased complexity in the pharma business world.

Despite the above business environment, the state-based listed 50 pharma companies registered healthy performance during 2012-13. The aggregate net sales of Pharmabiz sample of 50 pharma companies improved by 17.9 per cent to Rs 60,775 crore during the year ended March 2013 from Rs 51,549 crore in the previous year. As compared with the sales of leading 100 Pharmabiz pharma companies, the state-based 50 companies contributed 42.6 per cent during 2012-13. Among the 50 companies, 12 companies registered net sales of over Rs 1,000 crore during 2012-13. Further, eight multinational companies have established strong presence in Maharashtra.


The MNCs have rewarded their shareholders with higher equity dividends during 2012-13. GSK enhanced its equity dividend to 500 per cent from 450 per cent and Pfizer declared higher dividend of 325 per cent as compared to Rs 125 per cent. Abbott, Sanofi and Novartis maintained equity dividend at 170 per cent, 330 per cent and 200 per cent respectively.

With better performance and investments in R&D, the share price of several companies are moving to near to their highest levels and offering better returns to shareholders. However, the burden of FCCBs, stringent regulatory norms, drug price control, competition, etc., may put pressure on working in the current year. Further, limited success in R&D activities may also impact growth plans.