(Reuters) – Sanofi’s second-quarter profit rose 3.2% on strong demand for its blockbuster asthma drug Dupixent and better-than-expected sales of new launches, with the company now expecting a stable full-year profit compared to a prior forecast of a fall.
Operating income, excluding one-off items, rose 3.2% to 2.81 billion euros ($3.05 billion), above the 2.08 billion euros expected on average by analysts in a poll on the company’s website.
The company now forecasts stable earnings per share 2024 business, from its previous forecast of a low single-digit percentage fall.
Sales of Dupixent, which is approved to treat conditions such as asthma and eczema, rose 29.2% to 3.30 billion euros, above analyst consensus estimates of 3.18 billion euros.
Anti-inflammatory drug Dupixent, on which Sanofi partners with Regeneron, has long been a key growth driver, and the company has been seeking to expand its use for other conditions.
Still, Sanofi has faced shareholder concerns that it is overly reliant on Dupixent.
The French drugmaker has ramped up spending on research and development to revive its portfolio of experimental drugs and vaccines. It unexpectedly abandoned its 2025 margin targets in October for the R&D push, sparking a selloff in its stock.
Sanfoi’s new launches include haemophilia treatment Altuviiio, Beyfortus to prevent a common respiratory infection in infants, and type 1 diabetes treatment Tzield.
Quarterly sales of Beyfortus, which it sells with AstraZeneca, came in at 18 million euros, versus expectations of 15 million euros.
Sales of Altuviiio came in at 158 million euros, above estimates of 139 million.
Investors have been closely watching the performance of the new launches to gauge their near-term earnings potential.
($1 = 0.9226 euros)
(Reporting by Manas Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)
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