Sanofi Aventis earnings higher than expected

Sanofi-Aventis, the world’s third-largest drugs company, has announced higher-than-expected earnings in its first quarterly results. The company’s quarterly net profit rose by 53.6 per cent, thanks partly due to the sale of its rights for anti-diabetic drug Exubera to Pfizer for 384 million euros (263.5 million pounds) after tax.

Not accounting for the Exubera sale, earnings per share increased by 19.8 per cent, despite the “significant impact” of the arrival of four generic versions of its products in the market, including allergy drug Allegra and the anti-diabetic, Amaryl. However, sales grew in all of the company’s other top-15 selling drugs.

Sanofi-Aventis said the outlook for 2006 was very much on track, and pointed to the Japanese approval of Plavix, its circulatory drug, and the EU approval of Acomplia, a treatment for obese patients with associated risks like type-2 diabetes and dyslipidemia.

The company added that favourable exchange rates had increased sales and that research and development costs had risen by 13.3 per cent because of the larger number of drugs undergoing phase III trials and the continuing investment in its vaccines business.

Hanspeter Spek, executive vice-president of pharmaceutical operations and Jean-Claude LeRoy, executive vice-president and chief financial officer, have organised an online broadcast to discuss the results further.

© Adfero Ltd