The French pharmaceutical firm announces double-digit sales growth in the second quarter thanks to Dupixent and new products.
ADVERTISEMENTSanofi no longer expects a fall in full-year profit after a promising set of second quarter results, shared on Thursday.
Operating income, excluding one-off items, rose by 3.2% to €2.81bn, surpassing the €2.08bn expected on average by analysts in a company-provided poll.
Earnings per share for the quarter came in at €1.73, a 0.6% fall compared to the same period a year earlier.
For the whole of 2024, earnings per share are predicted to be in line with 2023's total, an upgrade from a previously forecasted single-digit percentage decrease.
Sanofi downgraded its 2025 margin targets last October to reflect an expected increase in research and development spending.
"We are continuing our strong performance in 2024 and delivered broad-based, double-digit sales growth in the second quarter," said CEO Paul Hudson.
"We also made important progress in our pipeline of new medicines, including approvals for Dupixent in COPD, Kevzara in pediatric arthritis and ALTUVIIIO (EU) in hemophilia A."
Some shareholders are concerned that Sanofi's success is too dependent on Dupixent, an anti-inflammatory drug used to treat asthma and eczema.
Dupixent sales overshot analysts' estimates and rose by 29.2% on the year to €3.30bn.
Sanofi has won approvals to allow this drug to be used for more treatments, and it is also expanding applications for other products.
In June, the firm announced that the drug Kevzara had been approved in the US to treat PJIA, a form of arthritis that impacts multiple joints at a time.
Over the 2024-25 period, Sanofi says that it is expecting results from 12 different phase 3 clinical trials, the last round of testing before a drug can be approved.
"As we accelerate our focused mid- and late-stage pipeline, we started a number of new phase 2 and phase 3 studies that will benefit patients in the future. We are well on track, delivering on our strategic priorities for Sanofi to become a development-driven, tech-powered biopharma company committed to serving patients and accelerating growth," said Hudson.
Aside from Dupixent, sales were robust for Altuviiio (772.2%), used by patients with haemophilia.
The same can be said for the drug Nexviazyme (66.0%), which treats the metabolic disorder, Pompe disease, and cancer medicine Sarclisa (+36.2%).
ADVERTISEMENTVaccines sales were down 4.8% on the year due to a covid-related rise in 2023, while research and development expenses grew by 5.5%.
