2 Min Read
(Reuters) - French healthcare group Sanofi’s first-quarter adjusted earnings gained 16.2% on sales growth of its bestselling drug Dupixent and a rebound in demand for prescription-free drugs.
First-quarter business operating income, or adjusted earnings before interest and tax, rose to 3.07 billion euros ($3.23 billion), surpassing the average analyst estimate of 2.84 billion euros posted on the company’s website.
The drugmaker added it would stop patient recruitment for clinical trials in Russia and Belarus, following Russia’s attack on Ukraine, causing study results in the area of multiple sclerosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) to be delayed.
The timing of requests for regulatory approval, however, was unchanged, it added.
The company last month said peak annual sales for Dupixent, jointly developed with Regeneron, would be more than 13 billion euros, up from a previous target of more than 10 billion.
The drug’s potential use against COPD, sometimes called smoker’s lung, would come on top of that and trial results have so far been expected next year.
Sanofi said on Thursday that it still expects 2022 adjusted group earnings per share to grow at a low double-digit percentage.
Revenues of eczema and asthma treatment Dupixent jumped over 45% to 1.61 billion euros, beating an analyst consensus of 1.58 billion euros, on prescriptions in dermatitis, asthma and certain nasal infections.
The French group added that it and partner GlaxoSmithKline, who fell behind in the race to launch a COVID-19 vaccine, were working on a next-generation booster vaccine for broad protection against all coronavirus variants of concern, with trial data expected during the second quarter of this year.
($1 = 0.9500 euros)
Reporting by Ludwig Burger; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Uttaresh.V
