Sanofi has suffered setback during the third-quarter ended September 2012 primarily due to loss of exclusivity fro Eloxatin in the US. The impact of the Plavix and Avapro loss of exclusivity in the US also put pressure to the tune of Euro 469 million. The company's business net profit declined by 7.4 per cent to Euro 2,221 million from Euro 2,398 million in the similar period of last year. However, its business net sales increased by 3.3 per cent to Euro 9,040 million from Euro 8,753 million.

Christopher Viehbacher, CEO, said, “The loss of exclusivity for Eloxatin in August in the US marks the final step in the genericization of our legacy blockbusters. The solid performance of our growth platform which account for over 70 per cent of sales, coupled with tight cost control, allowed us to limit the impact of the patent cliff on business EPS this quarter. Furthermore, we continue to make progress with our pipeline with the launch of Zaltrap and Aubagio in the US and the FDA approval for Auvi-Q.”

Sanofi's pharmaceutical sales improved only by 1.4 per cent to Euro 7,040 million from Euro 6,940 million in the corresponding quarter of last year. Diabetes recorded its seventh consecutive quarter of double-digit sales growth of 17.5 per cent to Euro 1,486 million. Lantus recorded strong growth of 20.7 per cent to Euro 1,279 million, driven by the performance in the US (22.1 per cent) and emerging markets (31.5 per cent). New Genzyme achieved strong double-digit sales growth of 22.5 per cent driven by the Fabrazyme recovery. Vaccines sales improved by 10.3 per cent to Euro 1,481 million from Euro 1,343 million, reflecting solid underlying performance impacted by temporary US supply limitations for Pentacel and the delivery of Flu vaccines extending into Q4 2012 unlike last year.

For the nine months ended September 2012, Sanofi's business net revenue increased by 1.2 per cent to Euro 26,421 million from Euro 24,881 million in the corresponding period of last year. Its business net income decline by 1.7 per cent to Euro 6,607 million from Euro 6,718 million. Pharmaceutical sales increased by 1.2 per cent to Euro 21,867 million from Euro 20,670 million. Vaccines' sales moved up by 8.7 per cent to Euro 2,881 million from Euro 2,651 million. R&D expenditure increased marginally to Euro 3,564 million from Euro 3,518 million.