Sanofi-Aventis says strong swine flu vaccine sales in 4th quarter will drive higher earnings

Reporting third quarter and nine month 2009 results, France's largest pharmaceutical company, Sanofi-Aventis, said it expects to make $500 million in sales of the swine flu vaccine in the fourth quarter. That forecast led Sanofi-Aventis to raise its outlook for full-year earnings per share growth, and saw the firm's share price rise 1% to euro51.37 in early trading today.

Based on performance so far this year and an expected contribution from H1N1 vaccine sales in the fourth quarter, the drug major now expects full-year adjusted earnings per share growth of around 11%. In July, the firm said that it was expecting earnings growth of at least 10%.

Paris-based Sanofi-Aventis said net profit rose 6% to 1.4 billion euros ($2.1 billion) in the third quarter, on revenue that grew 8 percent to 7.4 billion euros, in line with consensus forecasts. For the first nine months of the year, net sales rose 7.2% to 21.95 billion euros, while net profit leap 20.1% to 6.68 billion euros.

Key drugs Lantus (insulin glargine), with net sales of 2.3 billion euros over the first nine months of the year, has become the company's best-selling product in terms of consolidated net sales, Sanofi-Aventis said, The rapid-acting insulin analog Apidra recorded a 32.0% rise in third-quarter net sales to 34 million euros. Net sales of the product for the nine months to end September were up 42.6% at 100 million euros.

Blood thinner Plavix (clopidogrel) and Lovenox (enoxaparin) were particularly strong, as was the firm's vaccines franchise. Net sales of Aprovel (irbesartan) held steady in the third quarter, at 494 million euros in a competitive environment. In Europe, where the product is facing competition from generics in monotherapy in Spain and Portugal, sales rose by 0.4%. Over the nine months, the product reported sales growth of 1.2%.

Turnover of Lantus rose 27.1% to 778 million euros in the third quarter, while Plavix sales rose 5.6% to 664 million euros. Sales of Eloxatin dropped 40.6% to 193 million euros, reflecting generic competition in the USA.

Sanofi'-Aventis' vaccines division generated 1.05 billion euros revenues in the third quarter, up 4.8%, the over-the-counter business brought in 356 million euros (+26.3%) and generics revenues leapt 273.3% to 302 million euros.