Sanofi Aventis highlights UK Acomplia launch in results

Sanofi-Aventis, the French pharmaceutical company, has highlighted the UK launch of Acomplia, the obesity treatment, in its second quarterly results for the year.

Acomplia, was launched at the end of June in the UK, the first European country to approve the drug, an event highlighted by the company as one of the key instances during the quarter, in which net sales increased by 4.1 per cent.

Additionally, the vaccines business performed particularly strongly, aided by government contracts for H5N1 vaccines (creating a 1000 per cent increase in sales for influenza vaccines) and the introduction of a tetanus-diptheria-whooping cough vaccine for adults.

Sanofi-Aventis said pharmaceutical sales were “hit hard” by generic competition for Allegra and Amaryl, although treatments like Ambien, Lantus, Copaxone and Eloxatin showed high levels of growth.

A company statement read: “Based on these good first-half results, and barring major adverse events, we expect 2006 full-year adjusted earnings-per-share growth of 12 per cent.”

The company has been embroiled in an investigation involving Bristol-Myers Squibb in the US, regarding an out-of-court settlement on Plavix with Apotex, a generic drug maker.

Jean-Claude Leroy, Sanofi-Aventis’ chief financial officer, is quoted by Reuters as saying in a conference call: “Sanofi intends to provide information required. It is not possible to assess the outcome of the investigation. We have no further comment on this.”

On Sunday, the Independent reported that Bristol-Myers Squibb and Sanofi-Aventis could face fines of $4 billion if found guilty of criminal conduct.

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