Sanofi-Aventis SA, under pressure to rekindle growth, is considering whether to buy food or nutrition companies to complement its drug business.Europe’s third-largest drugmaker may seek profit in grocery stores as well as doctors’ offices because “good nutrition can help prevent many diseases,” Chairman Jean-Francois Dehecq said in an interview at Rungis, near Paris, on Wednesday after speaking on a panel about the links between nutrition and health.
Sanofi is looking at food -- ranging from nutrients that bolster children’s immunity against flu to meals designed for cancer patients — after sales fell for four out of five quarters, regulators rejected its most promising medicine and at least four of its biggest rivals decided to join forces.
“The changes taking place in the pharmaceutical industry over the past months have created two or three giants that have changed the playing field,” Dehecq said. That means Sanofi, which has 4 billion euros ($5.4 billion) in annual cash flow to spend on acquisitions, is also “doomed to grow.”
Pfizer Inc in January said it would buy Wyeth for $68 billion. Merck & Co this month agreed to buy Schering-Plough Corp for $41.1 billion.
The question for Sanofi is which course to pursue now, according to Dehecq. The Paris-based drugmaker, known for its Plavix blood-thinning drug, hired Chris Viehbacher from GlaxoSmithKline Plc to chart a new course as chief executive.
Viehbacher, who joined at the start of December, said in a March 12 interview he is redefining the company’s strategy, moving away from the search for blockbuster drugs.
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Instead, he favors smaller acquisitions and partnerships with researchers that will give Sanofi access to innovative science.
“To grow bigger there are maybe 36 solutions, and these are all solutions Chris will be studying, and that we will be studying with him,” Dehecq said.
Dehecq, who created one of Sanofi’s predecessor companies more than 30 years ago, said if the drugmaker decides to develop health foods and nutritional supplements, it will be going back to a strategy he tried and failed to implement decades ago.
“It was too early,” he said. “We made reduced- cholesterol butter and gruyere cheese, and nobody was interested. At the end of my career, I see” the plan made sense.