Sanofi reports strong second quarter growth

Sanofi has announced its financial results for the second quarter of 2011, a period marked by strong growth following recent acquisitions.

The company's sales total for the quarter came to 8.3 billion euros (7.3 billion pounds), up by 6.9 percent from Q2 2010 thanks to the contribution of Genzyme, which was acquired by Sanofi in April 2011.

Its integration of Genzyme and the animal health business Merial were highlighted as progressing well, while diabetes and consumer healthcare sales were also noted as key growth contributors.

The company is also moving to counterbalance the effect of growing generic competition via new product launches, with five regulatory filings expected to take place in the next nine months.

During the last quarter, the firm also took the decision to change its name from Sanofi-aventis to Sanofi in order to simplify its branding efforts worldwide.

Sanofi's chief executive officer, Christopher Viehbacher said: "As expected, the second quarter is the most challenging this year … against this, growth platform continue to perform well."