Sanofi Plans Three Major Launches By 2000

French drugmaker Sanofi is to launch three innovative molecules developed in the company's R&D programs at a cost of some 20 billion French francs ($3.88 billion) over the next 15 years. The three new agents are tiludronate (see also below), irbesartan and clopidogrel, and are estimated by Sanofi as having enormous potential in major markets.

Sanofi group president Jean-Francois Dehecq says each molecule represents a potential market of at least $1 billion. The new drugs are to be launched before the year 2000 in partnership with Bristol-Myers Squibb. The industrial development of the first two molecules has been assigned to Sanofi's Aramon plant, while clopidogrel will be developed at the Sisteron plant in the Alpes-Maritime region.

UK Launch For Skelid Meantime, Sanofi has announced that Skelid (tiludronate) has been launched in the UK. This product, the first from Sanofi's R&D pipeline to come to market, is one of a new generation of bisphosphonates, and is indicated for the treatment of Paget's disease, a chronic metabolic bone disorder (first identified 120 years ago) resulting in the over-formulation of new, abnormally-structured bone.