AsianScientist (May 12, 2011) – French-drugmaker Sanofi expects China to become its second biggest market after the US within five years, said the company’s CEO Chris Viehbacher in an interview with Reuters.
Viehbacher said Sanofi expects about $140 million in revenue from its China consumer health business this year, forming part of its $4 billion worldwide revenue from this sector.
Just yesterday, Sanofi Pasteur launched Pentaxim®, the first 5-in-1 combination vaccine in China to immunize against five deadly childhood diseases: diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio and Haemophilus influenzae type b. The vaccine reduces the number of shots from twelve to four, and achieves the same level of protection as immunization with single-antigen vaccines.
Hailed as the beginning of a new era in the immunization field in China, the vaccine was first marketed in 1997 and is now distributed in over 100 countries.
The launch of the Pentaxim vaccine adds to a long list of vaccines introduced by Sanofi into China, including the Inactivated Poliomyelitis Vaccine (IPV), the first rabies vaccine, the first influenza vaccine, and the first Hib vaccine.
Sanofi will also build a manufacturing facility in Shenzhen to produce the flu vaccine for the 2013 flu season, and it expects to launch a dengue vaccine in China in 2014 or 2015.
To market its products in China, Sanofi paid $521 million last year to acquire BMP Sunstone for its distribution network. Viebacher revealed that Sanofi will spend between $1.5 billion and $3 billion a year on smaller acquisitions, but will refrain from further blockbuster purchases such as its recent $20 billion acquisition of Genzyme.
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Source: Reuters.
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