Sanofi slips to a loss in Q2 on Eloctate impairment charge

Sanofi (NASDAQ: SNY) slipped to a loss in the second quarter of 2019 from a profit last year, due to a EUR1.8 billion impairment charge mainly related to Eloctate. However, business income increased by 5% on a strong launch of Dupixent driven by the accelerated uptake in atopic dermatitis and asthma in the US Specialty Care and Vaccines.

The IFRS net loss was EUR87 million or EUR0.07 per share compared to a profit of EUR762 million or EUR0.61 per share in the previous year quarter. Business net income rose by 5.3% to EUR1.64 billion or EUR1.31 per share.

Sales increased by 5.5% to EUR8.63 billion. Exchange rate movements had a positive effect of 1.6 percentage points mainly driven by the US dollar which largely offset the negative impact from the Argentine Peso and Turkish Lira. At constant exchange rates (CER), sales increased by 3.9%.

Sanofi Genzyme sales soared by 21.8% year-over-year due to strong launch performance of Dupixent. Vaccines sales increased by 24.7% mainly reflecting the recovery and growth of Pentaxim in China and low basis for comparison. Consumer Healthcare sales rose by 1.1% as US growth more than offset lower sales in Europe impacted by non-strategic brand divestments.

Pharmaceutical sales were up 1.7% to EUR6.46 billion mainly driven by Dupixent which was partially offset by Diabetes and Established Rx Products including the disposal of the European generics business. Multiple Sclerosis sales rose by 2.8% driven by double-digit growth of Aubagio in the US and Europe, partially offset by lower Lemtrada sales.

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Global Diabetes sales fell by 7% due to the increased contribution to the coverage gap related to Medicare Part D and a continued decline in average US glargine net prices. Established Rx Products sales decreased 10% primarily reflecting the divestment of the European generics business Zentiva at the end of the third quarter of 2018.

For the full year 2019, the company expects business EPS to grow about 5% at CER barring unforeseen major adverse events. Applying the average July 2019 exchange rates, the currency impact on 2019 business EPS is estimated to be between 1% and 2%.

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