Sanofi’s ambition to empower lives

Sanofi Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh Oncology Hospital signed a new cooperation agreement

Sanofi is planning to convene a shareholders’ meeting on April 30 to discuss the current health crisis and Sanofi’s commitment to help contain the spread of the virus and comply with the emergency measures taken by the government.

Emin Turan, country lead of Sanofi Vietnam and Cambodia told VIR, “We believe that the pandemic may continue to disrupt the way we run the business as well as the way we connect with our stakeholders. However, when we look ahead to 2021, we are pushing ourselves to be more resilient by asking ourselves how we can truly unleash our entrepreneurial spirit to fulfil our ambitions.”

Sanofi plans to enhance focus on actual market needs, innovating and offering what is best to customers. Specifically, to continuously serve the Vietnamese population, Sanofi will continue to accelerate efficiency, focus on its key portfolio, and foster collaboration with various stakeholders and customers while putting patients and people at the core of its operation.

“More importantly, we will need to continuously make significant changes towards our vision,” Turan added.

Reports from the first half of 2020 were heavy in explaining the uncertainty due to COVID-19. Sanofi experienced a slowdown but it saw healthy growth for its vaccines business as the importance of prevention was much better understood that year. Entering the last quarter of 2020, the company began picking up momentum across almost the entirety of its product range.

The growing needs of patients and the sustainable supply of innovative medicines, vaccines, and consumer health products continue to be of paramount importance to pharma firms.

In Vietnam, in addition to COVID-19, population ageing has become a rising issue and accordingly the burden of chronic diseases is increasing. The government is paying great attention to taking good care of their people with a focus on increasing the coverage of health insurance that already covers a very large percentage of the population.

Sanofi has been adapted to change by paying great attention to business optimisation and operational efficiency as the best way to overcome challenges. It stayed focused on what really matters in order to facilitate access to its innovative medicines/vaccines for the community.

Looking ahead, the worldwide health crisis is far from over and pharmaceutical firms will have to contend with its social and economic consequences much longer than they initially thought.

Sanofi expects 2021 business earnings per share to grow high single-digit at coupon equivalent rate, barring unforeseen major adverse events. Applying average January 2021 exchange rates, the currency impact on 2021 business EPS is estimated to be between -4 per cent to -5.5 per cent.

Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson commented, “While last year was an extraordinarily challenging year for all, I am incredibly proud of the measurable progress we have made within the backdrop of a global pandemic. Our teams across the world have relentlessly delivered on our strategy with a sharpened focus on operating and financial efficiencies.”

Sanofi bolstered its research and development pipeline with the completion of the Synthorx and Principia acquisitions, met several regulatory milestones to bring important medicines to patients, and saw several proofs of concept which reassured Hudsen about the priorities chosen. “We continue to work in parallel on our two COVID-19 vaccine candidates, with clinical trials starting in the coming weeks,” he added.

At the same time, Sanofi wants to make a more immediate contribution to help saving lives, which is why it decided to provide manufacturing support to BioNTech and Pfizer. “The continuous uptake and potential of Dupixent for patients, our contribution to population health with vaccines, reinforced with the resiliency of our General Medicines and Consumer Healthcare portfolios are all solid foundations to build upon in 2021, helping us achieve our ambition of bringing breakthrough medicines and vaccines to people around the world,” Hudson noted.

Welcome news was the announcement by Sanofi and Translate Bio of the start of a phase 1/2 clinical trial for their mRNA COVID-19 vaccine candidate. The study will assess the vaccine candidate’s safety, immune response, and reactogenicity with 415 participants across 13 investigational sites. In parallel, preclinical studies are underway to evaluate additional mRNA candidates against emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants.