Sanofi Announces 466 Layoffs to Refocus R&D on Oncology, Immunology, and Gene Therapy

YiOu Health, June 21 News,SanofiAnnounced a “voluntary departure plan” to restructure its research and development (R&D) operations in Germany and France, resulting in the elimination of 466 jobs across the two countries.

It is reported that, following this restructuring, Sanofi will terminate its new internal cardiology research programs, narrow the scope of its diabetes-related work, and refocus its corporate R&D efforts on oncology, immunology, rare diseases, and vaccines.

Given Sanofi’s current situation, the decision to scale back its diabetes and cardiovascular drug R&D pipelines is not surprising.Its 2018 performance data showed that sales in the rare diseases, vaccines, and consumer healthcare segments all achieved positive growth, while the diabetes and cardiovascular business lagged behind, with sales declining by 13.8% year-on-year.

To further "streamline" these two business segments, Sanofi began taking action in January last year,Sanofi “took action” by cutting 400 employees from its U.S. diabetes and cardiovascular sales team; last September, Sanofi further adjusted its corporate organizational structure by merging the Diabetes and Cardiovascular (DCV) business unit.

The underperformance of the cardiovascular and diabetes business was partly due to weak sales of Sanofi’s flagship product, Lantus, which also faced intense competition from similar generic drugs in the European market. Previously, Sanofi officially stated that its diabetes business could see an annual decline of 4% to 8%.

For thisLayoffs, John Reed, Global Head of Research and Development at Sanofi, stated that the recent restructuring is a way to redirect funding to other therapeutic areas.# Anticipated Increase in Immuno-Oncology and Gene Therapy Research in France; In the United States, more investment will be made in gene therapy research and development, with a research team in Massachusetts focusing on this area; in Germany, it is expected that more funding will be allocated to the field of antibody engineering.

In the field of immuno-oncology research,Earlier, Libtayo (cemiplimab), a PD-1 tumor immunotherapy developed by Sanofi and Regeneron, received a recommendation for conditional approval from the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency, for the treatment of adult patients with metastatic or locally advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC) who are not candidates for curative surgery or curative radiotherapy.

In addition, Sanofi announced the results of a Phase III clinical study of isatuximab, an anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody, for the treatment of relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma at this year’s ASCO Annual Meeting, and plans to submit a marketing application for isatuximab to regulatory authorities by the end of the year based on these findings.

In terms of gene therapy,In 2011, Sanofi acquired the U.S. biotechnology company Genzyme for over $20 billion, boosting the research and sales of rare disease drugs.

Last year, Sanofi acquired the U.S. hemophilia specialist Bioverativ for $11.6 billion, entering the hemophilia treatment market. In the same month, it successfully acquired a Belgian company for a total of €3.9 billion.Pharmaceutical CompanyAblynx. Ablynx is a renowned Belgian pharmaceutical company specializing in the development of nanobodies. It has secured 45 patents or co-patents across various therapeutic areas, including hematology, inflammation, immuno-oncology, and respiratory diseases, with eight nanobodies currently in clinical development.

Notably, Sanofi’s layoffs are not an isolated case; last year,Major international pharmaceutical companies, including Bayer, Sanofi, and Pfizer, have successively announced plans for layoffs and restructuring.The primary reasons for the layoffs are to cut costs, focus on key strategies, and concentrate on its core competitive businesses. With Sanofi once again announcing “downsizing” measures, it is easy to imagine thatMultinational Pharmaceutical CompaniesLife is not so easy either.

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