Sanofi-Aventis SA, France’s largest drugmaker, said fourth-quarter profit rose 14 percent on demand for the Plavix blood thinner and Lantus for diabetics.

Adjusted net income was 1.63 billion euros ($2.1 billion), or 1.25 euros a share, compared with 1.43 billion euros, or 1.07 euros a share, a year earlier, Paris-based Sanofi said in a statement handed to reporters. That beat the 1.62 billion-euro median estimate of five analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
Chief Executive Officer Chris Viehbacher, who took over two months ago, must find new products to overcome generic competition to drugs that make up more than 35 percent of revenue.
The 48-year-old executive is under pressure as rivals such as Pfizer Inc. make purchases. Sanofi will be “disciplined” on acquisitions, Viehbacher said.
“Don’t expect us to announce something next week,” he told reporters.
Sanofi plans to revamp research after the failure of its obesity pill Acomplia, said Viehbacher, who meets journalists and analysts today for the first time in his new role.
The CEO, who ran GlaxoSmithKline Plc’s North American unit for eight years, created three new positions at the company: chief strategy officer, chief medical officer and scientific adviser. He said Laurence Debroux, who became chief financial officer in December, will take the strategy job.
Sanofi appointed Jean-Pierre Lehner as chief medical officer and Elias Zerhouni as science adviser.
Sanofi’s sales growth comes from older products such as Plavix, as well as the cancer drugs Eloxatin and Taxotere. Acomplia, once the company’s most promising new medicine, was rejected by regulators in the U.S. and Europe on concern about its side effects. That leaves the French drugmaker with few products to spur growth once its current bestsellers lose patent protection.
Patients traditionally switch to cheaper copies of a drug when they become available, causing sales of the original product to slide. This so-called patent cliff prompted Pfizer’s $68 billion bid for rival Wyeth last month, and may put pressure on others in the industry to tie the knot, analysts have said.
Fourth-quarter sales at Sanofi rose to 7.09 billion euros, helped by a surge in prescriptions for the Lantus diabetes drug.
Sanofi fell 28 percent last year, the worst performance among Europe’s top five drugmakers.
(Source: Bloomberg)