SNY - Sanofi Says Its $2.5 Billion Biotech Takeover Is Just the Beginning
As the year comes to a close, Sanofi (NASDAQ: SNY) has a holiday gift for investors in the form of a new strategy. The French drugmaker announced a $2.5 billion biotech takeover in the growing immuno-oncology field earlier this week, then a day later said it is dropping research in the diabetes and cardiovascular fields. This is big news because Sanofi's top-selling drug is diabetes drug Lantus. The problem is that with pricing pressure from competitors, Lantus' sales have been sliding -- and fast.
IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES.
Lantus brought in more than $1.2 billion in the third quarter of 2017, and by the same period last year, the figure dropped to less than $1 billion. Sanofi reported a 17.5% decline in Lantus sales to $837 million in the third quarter of this year. To make matters worse, the rest of the diabetes and cardiovascular business has followed, weighing down earnings, while areas including oncology and immunology grew.