Sanofi Unveils 12 Potential Blockbuster Drug Candidates to Rebuild Investor Confidence

Sanofi announced 12 candidate drugs in its pipeline, including 9 immunotherapy drugs and 3 vaccines. Each of these drugs has a peak sales potential ranging from 2 billion to 5 billion euros, with three potentially exceeding 5 billion euros in peak sales.

French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi announced at an investor R&D day held in New York on December 7 that the company is developing 12 "blockbuster drugs" with potential annual sales exceeding $1 billion each.

However, due to the company's failure to provide specific short-term profit expectations for the new drug, Sanofi's stock price did not reverse its downward trend that day. On October 27, Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson unexpectedly abandoned the company’s 2025 profit target of 32%, triggering panic selling in the market. In the past two months, Sanofi's stock price has fallen by about 20%.

Regarding Sanofi's release at the Investor R&D Day, an investor told the First Financial Reporter: "I think their direction is correct, but in the process of communicating with investors, they still lack some specific details. They should explain their strategy more clearly to eliminate market panic."

Sanofi announced 12 candidate drugs in its pipeline, including 9 immunotherapy drugs and 3 vaccines. Sanofi stated that each of these drugs has peak sales potential ranging from 2 billion to 5 billion euros (2.2 billion to 5.4 billion US dollars), with three potentially exceeding 5 billion euros in peak sales.

Specifically, the drugs in these pipelines include tolebrutinib for multiple sclerosis, lunsekimig and rilzabrutinib for asthma, itepekimab for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), as well as candidate vaccines targeting acne, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in the elderly, and extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli.

Sanofi expects the peak sales potential of eczema drug amlitelimab, frexalimab for treating multiple sclerosis, and an oral soluble TNFR1 inhibitor to exceed 5 billion euros.

The company stated that by 2030, recently launched and upcoming new drugs would generate over 10 billion euros in annual sales. Considering its recently introduced RSV vaccine, Sanofi’s vaccine business is also expected to reach a similar revenue level by 2030. Dupixent, its top-selling anti-inflammatory drug, is anticipated to be used for treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), with projected double-digit annual sales growth by 2030.

Sanofi also announced that it will invest more energy and focus on R&D, with the goal of increasing the number of Phase III clinical trials by 50% during the period from 2023 to 2025. It plans to conduct 25 mid-to-late stage clinical trials in the next two years and submit 20 new drug applications to regulatory authorities.

Financial report data shows that Sanofi's R&D expenditure in 2022 was 6.7 billion euros (7.2 billion US dollars), accounting for 15.6% of the group's sales, which is lower than the industry average of around 20%.

Hudson stated that Sanofi's cost for drug trials next year will increase by nearly 700 million euros, and long-term R&D investment may rise by 1 billion euros compared to the 2023 level. He also mentioned that Sanofi aims to become a leading company in the fields of immunology and neurology.

In addition to strengthening R&D, like many pharmaceutical giants, Sanofi also considers acquisitions as an important part of its strategy. In March this year, Sanofi announced a $2.9 billion acquisition of Provention Bio, a U.S.-based biopharmaceutical company. Through this acquisition, Sanofi will gain access to a new type 1 diabetes therapy. Provention Bio will also bring synergies to the early development of Sanofi’s immunomediated disease drugs.

Sanofi is also betting on the application of AI in the field of new drug discovery. Recently, Sanofi signed a $140 million agreement with French AI pharmaceutical company Aqemia, hoping to change the landscape of drug development, strengthen new drug discovery and compound optimization, and accelerate the development process of innovative therapies.

Editor: Liu Wanli SF014