Sanofi-aventis, a French pharmaceutical giant with ranking number one in Europe has posted satisfactory financial performance during the year ended December 2006 despite stiff competition from generics. The company's net sales increased by 3.9 per cent to Euro 28,373 million from Euro 27,311 million in the previous year. The net earnings improved by 11.1 per cent to Euro 7,040 million from Euro 6,335 million. The earning per share reached at Euro 5.23 from Euro 4.74. The Board has declared equity dividend of Euro 1.75 per share for the year 2006.

The pharmaceutical sales improved by 2.5 per cent to Euro 25,840 million (US$ 37,460 million) despite being impacted by generics of Allegra, Amaryl, Arava and DDAVP products in the US and the effect of healthcare reforms in France and Germany. Net sales of the top 15 products were up 6.4 per cent at Euro 17,289 million, representing 66.9 per cent of pharmaceuticals net sales, compared with 64.4 per cent in 2005. Excluding the impact of generics of Allegra and Amaryl in the US, growth in net sales of the top 15 products would have been 12.4 per cent. The company's sales in Europe improved marginally by 1.1 per cent to Euro 12,219 million.

The sales of its leading product Lovenox improved by 12.9 per cent to Euro 2,435 million and that of Plalvix went up by 9.6 per cent to Euro 2,229 million during 2006. There were nine products with sales over one billion dollars during 2006. The sales of top 15 products in US improved by 12.4 per cent to Euro 16,890 million.

The company's human vaccines sales increased by 22.7 per cent to Euro 2,533 million during 2006. Full-year sales of H5N1 vaccines totalled Euro 151 million. Sanofi Pasteur also signed a new contract with the US government in November 2006, for a stockpile of a new type of H5N1 pre-pandemic vaccine. The value of this contract could reach $ 117.9 million, with the exact amount depending, on the number of doses that can be produced. Shipment of the vaccine will take place in 2007. Sanofi Pasteur, a joint venture with Merck & Co in Europe, posted sales of Euro 724 million, up by 5.3 per cent.

The company's R&D expenditure increased by 9.5 per cent to Euro 4,430 million, representing 15.6 per cent o its net sales during 2006. The increase reflects the stepping up of phase III clinical trials during the year in pharmaceuticals and higher R&D spend in vaccines.

Barring major adverse events, the Group expects a growth in 2007 adjusted EPS excluding selected items in the same order of magnitude as 2006 growth, despite the end of protection for Ambien IR in the US in April 2007 and generic competition for Eloxatin in Europe.