Sanofi and Merck & Co. to Dismantle Joint Vaccines Venture After 22 Years
March 8, 2016
By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
Paris-based Sanofi continues its restructuring with a major change. The company’s 22-year-old joint venture with Merck & Co. , known as Sanofi Pasteur MSD, is ending. Sanofi Pasteur MSD manufactures vaccines that it markets in Europe.
Sanofi and Merck expect to complete the dismantling of the venture by the end of this year. There is a 50/50 split between the two companies, which generated $908 million in revenues in 2015. Its big focus has been flu vaccines in Europe, but also markets Gardisil for HPV and cervical cancer. It also markets vaccines against shingles, hepatitis, yellow fever and childhood diseases.
The two companies expect to absorb respective vaccines operations back into their own operations. Sanofi Pasteur MSD is headquartered in Lyon, France, very close to Sanofi’s own vaccine business, Sanofi Pasteur.
“We believe that focusing our efforts on opportunities unique to our respective companies will better position us to drive growth, execute in a more efficient manner and optimize vaccine coverage,” the two companies said in a joint statement.
About 115 jobs will will be eliminated in France as a result. The companies indicate that about 100 people have agreed to voluntary departures. Another 50 are expected to choose early retirement.
“After carefully considering our individual strategic priorities, alongside the economic and regulatory environments for vaccine operations in the European Union, we have mutually agreed that it is in our best interests to manage our vaccine product portfolios independently,” the companies stated.
This would be yet another big change in Sanofi’s structure. The company is in discussions on spinning off its animal health unit, Merial, as well as its European generics business. In mid-December, Sanofi and Geramny-based Boehringer Ingelheim announced they had plans to exchange business units. Sanofi would swap Merial for Boehringer Ingelheim’s consumer healthcare (CHC) business. Boehringer Ingelheim’s CHC China business would not be part of the deal.
However, sources indicated last week that this particular deal may not occur until later this year or even early 2017.
And although there have been some job cuts in Europe and in the U.S. by Sanofi, there are indications that its Sanofi Genzyme unit may be involved in some new deals and acquisitions, especially in the area of rare diseases. David Meeker, who heads Sanofi Genzyme, told The Boston Globe that Genzyme plans to expand.
“Our approach to rare diseases is scalable,” Meeker told The Boston Globe. “The move to specialty care is being driven by science. As you understand the underlying biology of diseases better, it allows you to develop more specific therapies.”
Several years ago, Sanofi Genzyme abandoned cancer research, but as part of the larger company’s reorganization, it is relaunching oncology research. It also plans to bolster its immunology drug pipeline, and hopes to hear positive news about its rheumatoid arthritis drug, Sarilumab, in October from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Merck’s own vaccines unit is currently developing a vaccine against Ebola. And the Sanofi Pasteur unit is launching the first vaccine against dengue fever, Dengvaxia. It was approved in December 2015 for sale in Mexico’s Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks (COFEPRIS). It is also focused on vaccines for other diseases, including clostridium difficile.