What’s Sanofi Business Model?

Sanofi operates as a pharmaceutical company. The Company manufactures prescription pharmaceuticals and vaccines. Sanofi also develops cardiovascular, thrombosis, metabolic disorder, central nervous system, and oncology medicines and drugs. Sanofi serves customers worldwide.

What Sanofi is doing in more details?

Sanofi is a leading global healthcare company, focused on patient needs and engaged in the research, development, manufacture and marketing of therapeutic solutions.

Its pharmaceutical unit specializes in rare diseases, multiple sclerosis (MS), oncology, immunology, diabetes, and cardiovascular illness; the big sellers are Aubagio (MS), Lantus (diabetes), Lovenox (thrombosis), and Plavix (atherothrombosis).

Sanofi’s vaccines business, Sanofi Pasteur, manufactures vaccines for flu, meningitis, and pneumonia and its consumer healthcare business makes cough and cold, pain, and digestive remedies. With business operations in approximately 90 countries and its products are available in more than 170 countries; the US is Sanofi’s biggest market.

Sanofi was founded in 1973 by a French oil company.

Where Sanofi is Operating?

Sanofi operates through three segments: pharmaceuticals, vaccines, and consumer healthcare.

The pharmaceuticals segment generates around 70% of Sanofi’s total sales and consists of: Specialty Care (rare diseases, multiple sclerosis, oncology, rare blood disorders and immunology), and General Medicines (diabetes, cardiovascular and established prescription products).

Sanofi Pasteur produces vaccines and generates more than 15% of revenue and include immunizations against pertussis, flu, and meningitis, among other diseases. Its main brands are Pentacel, Vaxigrip, and Menactra (more than 100 million doses have been distributed since launch).

Sanofi also has one of the world’s largest consumer healthcare portfolios (more than 10% of total sales), which includes treatments for colds and allergies, pain, and heartburn. Leading brands include Allegra, Doliprane, Dulcolax, and Pharmaton.

Where is the geographical reach of Sanofi?

Geographically, Sanofi’s revenue is well diversified. Although the US is Sanofi’s largest market at some 35% of revenue, Europe generates approximately 25% and the rest of the world accounts for the remainder.

Based in Paris, France, Sanofi has office locations, production sites, and other facilities in about 90 countries worldwide.

Its manufacturing footprint spans roughly 70 facilities in more than 30 countries while pharmaceuticals R&D activities are carried out in about 15 facilities across the US, Europe, and the Asia Pacific region.

What is Sanofi’s Sales and Marketing Strategy?

Sanofi’s products are marketed primarily by its own sales force, which accounts for around a quarter of its payroll, but partnerships with pharma firms such as Bristol-Myers Squibb also play an important role.

Sanofi’s primary customers include wholesale drug distributors, independent and chain retail drug outlets, hospitals, clinics, managed-care organizations and government institutions. Sanofi’s top three worldwide wholesale customers account for about 10% of total revenue.

Many of Sanofi’s branded pharmaceutical products face global generics competition, including Taxotere, Eloxatin, Lovenox, and Aprovel.

What is Sanofi Financial Performance?

Note: Growth rates may differ after conversion to US Dollars.

The company’s revenue for fiscal 2020 decreased by 0.2% to ?36.0 billion compared from the prior year with ?36.1 billion.

Net income for fiscal 2020 increased to ?12.3 billion compared from the prior year with ?2.8 billion.

Cash held by the company at the end of fiscal 2020 increased to ?13.9 billion. Cash provided by operations and investing activities were ?7.4 billion and ?3.6 billion, respectively.

Cash provided by financing activities was ?6.5 billion, mainly for dividends paid.

What is Sanofi Future Strategy?

The Sanofi “Play to Win” strategy is organized around four key priorities: focus on growth; lead with innovation; accelerate efficiency; and reinvent how it works to drive innovation and growth.

Sanofi aims to increase its business operating income (BOI) margin through efficiency initiatives, and the company expect to generate ?2.5 billion of savings by 2022. These savings will fund investments in growth drivers, as well as supporting an increase of its BOI margin.

What are Sanofi’s Mergers and Acquisitions?

In late 2021, Sanofi completed its acquisition of Translate Bio, a clinical-stage mRNA therapeutics company, for approximately $38.00 per share in cash, which represents a total equity value of approximately $3.2 billion (on a fully diluted basis).

The acquisition further accelerates the company’s efforts to develop transformative vaccines and therapies using mRNA technology.

It adds a critical pillar to the company’s mRNA Center of Excellence which aims to unlock the potential of next-generation mRNA vaccines and other strategic areas such as immunology, oncology, and rare diseases.

Also in late 2021, Sanofi entered into a definitive merger agreement with the New York-based Kadmon Holdings, a biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops, and markets transformative therapies for disease areas of significant unmet medical needs, for approximately $1.9 billion.

The acquisition supports Sanofi’s strategy to continue to grow its General Medicines core assets and will immediately add Rezurock (belumosudil) to its transplant portfolio.

Rezurock is a recently FDA-approved, first-in-class treatment for chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD) for adult and pediatric patients 12 years and older who have failed at least two prior lines of systemic therapy.

In early 2021, Sanofi completed its acquisition of Kiadis, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing next generation, “off-the-shelf”, NK cell-therapies, for approximately ?308 million.

The acquisition continues to build on Sanofi’s emerging presence in immuno-oncology aligned with the company’s strategy to pursue best-in-class treatments in defined areas.

In early 2020, Sanofi completed its acquisition of Synthorx, a Califronia-based company which develops drugs that harness the body’s immune system to fight cancer, for approximately $2.5 billion.

Synthorx believes its drug, THOR-707, offers the therapeutic benefits of similar drugs, but without the downsides of a difficult dosing regimen and physical side effects. Sanofi plans to use Synthorx’s technologies as the foundation for an immuno-oncology program.

What is Sanofi’s History?

The Sanofi group got its start in 1973 when French oil conglomerate Elf Aquitaine (later part of TOTAL) merged several health care, cosmetics, and animal nutrition companies into one subsidiary.

In 1977 Sanofi set up a Japanese subsidiary, through which it developed joint ventures with Japan’s Meiji Seika Kaisha and Taisha Pharmaceutical firms. In 1979 Elf spun off Sanofi, although it retained ownership of more than half of the company.

Almost from its founding Sanofi grew through acquisitions and alliances. During the 1980s it used a massive war chest to buy stakes and set up joint ventures, such as one with American Home Products in 1982.

The company bought couturier et parfumier Nina Ricci in 1988; such well-known fragrances as L’Air du Temps put it among the industry’s top perfume houses.

But Sanofi overreached the next two years and was outbid by American Home Products for AH Robins (the drug firm bankrupted by lawsuits over deaths from its Dalkon Shield IUD) and by Rhône-Poulenc (now part of Aventis) for Rorer.

A chastened Sanofi and Kodak subsidiary Sterling Drug in 1991 entered into an alliance that didn’t involve an exchange of cash.

In 1993 Sanofi made a splash when it bought the perfume business of fashion designer Yves Saint-Laurent. The next year it bought out much of the pharmaceutical joint venture with Kodak. Sanofi began divesting such noncore businesses as veterinarian and biotech operations in 1995.

After suffering a loss in its perfume and beauty division in 1996, it sold Nina Ricci. The rest of its beauty division was sold in 1999 in preparation for the Synthélabo merger.

Synthélabo was founded in 1970 when drug firms Laboratoires Dausse and Laboratoires Robert et Carriere merged. In 1973 it became a 53%-owned subsidiary of beauty products maker L’Oréal. In 1980 drug firm Metabio-Jouillie became a part of Synthélabo, making it the #3 drug company in France.

In 1983 Synthélabo and US drugmaker Searle created Lorex to market the French firm’s products in the UK. (Synthélabo bought Searle’s interest 10 years later.)

Throughout the 1980s Synthélabo acquired, merged, and formed joint ventures, including some in Japan with Mitsubishi Chemical, Fujisawa Pharmaceutical (1985), and Tanabe Seiyaku (1987). The company continued its acquisitive ways in the 1990s, buying several French rivals.

Synthélabo openly admitted its quest for a large international presence in 1996, announcing it wanted 80% of its sales to come from such foreign markets as Asia and the US.

That year the company entered an alliance with Genset to research cancer-causing genes; it also signed on with SmithKline Beecham (now GlaxoSmithKline) and Human Genome Sciences to fund genetic research.

Synthélabo’s Hungarian subsidiary began planning to make drugs for the first time, rather than just selling its parent’s products as in the past. The next year Synthélabo bought Pharmacia & Upjohn’s German generic drug subsidiary Sanorania Pharma.

As Synthélabo and Sanofi merged in 1999, the new company’s concentration on pharmaceuticals dictated several changes, including the sale of the company’s interests in joint venture Pasteur Sanofi Diagnostics, as well as its beauty division, home to such well-known perfume lines as Yves Saint Laurent.

It also sold its veterinary and animal feed division to what later became BNP Paribas.