Sanofi chief executive Chris Viehbacher tells Bloomberg the French drug maker is poised to put recent lackluster results behind. “Our view is that particularly in the 4Q, the company returns to growth for the next period,” he told the news service, which notes that the CEO did not specify if that meant growth in terms of sales or growth in terms of profit.
The company has muddled through a series of patent losses, which contributed to last quarter’s sales which were 9.7% less than 2012’s second quarter results. Viehbacher characterized results at the time as frustrating. Since then the company’s news has included rolling out the half-unit insulin pen for children called JuniorSTAR in the EU this September, offering it a foothold in Novo’s pediatric territory.
This is in addition to EU-cleared offerings like MyStar Extra, a self-monitoring blood glucose meter, which “provides robust estimates” of a patient’s A1C value and a lancing device for blood sugar tests called SylkFeel. Type-two diabetes GLP-1 medication Lyxumia (lixisenatide) remains off the list of near-term potential products. The company pulled the drug from the FDA’s list of reviewable drugs, saying it wanted more data to come in before handing over to the regulator.
