Sanofi Indian arm eyes brand buys to boost portfolio

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The Indian arm of the Euro 28-billion French drug giant Sanofi Avent—the third largest pharmaceutical company in the world— is planning to step up its portfolio of drugs sold in India by acquiring brands in certain therapeutic areas like anti-infectives and drugs for cough and cold, where it does not have any presence as of now.

The company is in talks with a few pharmaceutical firms who would want to sell off some of their brands, but nothing has been finalised yet.

Shailesh Ayyangar, managing director of the Rs 947.5-crore (as on fiscal ended December 2007) Sanofi Aventis India said the company is bullish on India and would want to grow here through the inorganic route also.

“Infectives and cough & cold are areas where we want to tap the tier II cities and at the moment, we do not have a presence in these areas,” he said. “We are looking at acquiring brands in these segments,” Ayyangar added.

In India, Sanofi Aventis has a presence in the areas of cardiovascular, thrombosis, oncology, disorders of the central nervous system, metabolic disorders, internal medicine and vaccines. Ayyangar was speaking at the India launch of the company’s pre-filled disposable insulin pen SoloStar here on Tuesday.

SoloStar will be priced in the region of Rs 900, close to the price of Sanofi Aventis’ existing insulin pen, OptiSet. The company sells its $2 billion insulin glargine Lantus in India, which today has an annual sales of Rs 26.9 crore here, with 7% share in the insulin segment.

With 43 million cases of diabetes in India, the insulin market here is estimated at Rs 400 crore, growing at a rate of 22% annually. However, the sales of Lantus has been growing 84% every year.

The company has seen a price erosion of 40% on Lantus ever since its launch. “Insulin comes under price control, and there has been a price erosion. But we are betting on the large potential of the market and the volumes in India,” Ayyangar said.

Sanofi Aventis also sells products like Cardace (India sales -Rs 88 crore) , Combiflam (Rs 86 crore), Rabipur (Rs 62.5 crore) and Avil (Rs 40 crore), among others.