First Quarter "Satisfying" Says Sanofi

French health and beauty company Sanofi said that its performance in thefirst three months of 1997 was satisfying, with sales up 5% to 5.7 billion French francs ($974.7 million), and it noted that on a comparable basis the increase was 2%.

The group said that its health care division achieved turnover of just under 5 billion francs, up 5%. Within this sector, pharmaceutical revenues progressed well, with consolidated sales for the top 10 products up 9%. New products launched in the last year, such as Sanofi's colorectal cancer therapeutic Eloxatine (oxaliplatin), and the treatment for Paget's disease Skelid (tiludronate), showed a favorable trend.

Looking at geographic developments, significant growth in Sanofi's pharmaceutical business was noted in Asia, central and eastern Europe and in Latin America. Turnover in western Europe was adversely affected by the withdrawal in the fourth quarter of 1996 of Trancopal (chlormezanone).