Sanofi-Aventis' 4th-qtr profit falls 4.6%

French drug major Sanofi-Aventis says that its profits for the fourth quarter of 2006 fell 4.6% to 1.38 billion euros ($1.80 billion), down from the 1.44 billion euros it recorded in the year-earlier comparable period. The firm attributed the decline to the impact of health care reforms in France and Germany, which it said pressure doctors to prescribe fewer drugs, as well as the impact of generic competition on US product sales.

Sanofi reported revenues of 7.36 billion euros, up 5% for the quarter, and added that its anti-stroke treatment Lovenox (enoxaparin), which achieved growth of 12% to 614.0 million euros, was a key product. Revenues from the anti-clotting agent Plavix (clopidogrel), which increased 5% worldwide to 541.0 million, were badly affected by generic competition in the USA, falling 62%.

The firm did not comment on rumors of a potential merger with USA-based Bristol-Myers Squibb (Marketletter October 16, 2006).