French pharmaceutical group Sanofi experienced a profitability boom in the third quarter, with sales buoyed by the continuing momentum of its blockbuster drug Dupixent, as well as vaccines.
Consolidated net profit rose by 12% to €2.844 billion in the third quarter after sales went up by 12.3% to €13.438 billion, according to a group press release published on Friday.
Sales were better than projected by Factset analysts, who were expecting a turnover of €12.994 billion. They were driven by new pharmaceutical launches (up 67.1% to €727 million), including Altuviiio, used to treat haemophilia, Tzield - for type 1 diabetes -, Sarclisa (multiple myeloma) and Rezurock, used in cases of graft-versus-host disease.
Vaccine sales also rose by 25.5%, due to a "more favourable than expected" sequence of influenza vaccine sales, as well as the antibody-based treatment for infant bronchiolitis, Beyfortus, thanks to the approval of additional production capacity, according to Sanofi.
The group benefited from the strength of Dupixent, which treats a number of diseases linked to immune system dysfunction - from psoriasis to asthma. Dupixent sales rose by a further 23.8% (at constant exchange rates) to €3.476 billion.
This "remarkable performance" enables Sanofi to confirm its target of sales of around €13 billion for this drug by 2024, CFO François-Xavier Roger said at an online press conference.
