(BFM Bourse) – The pharmaceutical group presented positive results on Sunday in the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at an international congress. Fitch, for its part, raised Sanofi’s credit rating.
Sanofi is poised to succeed where competitors AstraZeneca and GSK have failed in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), nicknamed “smoker’s bronchitis”.
COPD is a potentially life-threatening respiratory disease that damages the lungs and leads to a progressive deterioration of respiratory function. In the United States, 300,000 people have COPD with type 2 inflammatory signature.
And the latest news announced by Sanofi brings the pharmaceutical company closer to marketing Dupixent to treat this respiratory disease. Sanofi said it had presented this weekend the positive results of its phase III study (last stage of clinical trials before possible marketing) confirming the effectiveness of its flagship drug in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, at the Congress of the American Thoracic Society (ATS), with a simultaneous publication this Monday in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).
The results presented by Sanofi at the ATS Congress and published in the NEJM are from the BOREAS trial, which met its primary endpoint and all of its secondary endpoints.
A new indication in sight for Dupixent
The phase III trial evaluated Dupixent versus placebo in adults with these disease features. In the end, Dupixent resulted in a clinically and highly significant reduction, i.e. by 30%, of moderate or severe acute exacerbations of COPD (rapid and acute deterioration of respiratory symptoms), as well as improvements significant changes in respiratory function, quality of life, and respiratory symptoms due to disease.
Dupixent also significantly improved respiratory function at weeks 12 and 52 and quality of life and respiratory symptoms, with numerical improvements seen as early as week 4 of treatment.
Sanofi had already presented the results of this last stage of clinical trials at the end of March, evaluating this drug co-developed with the American Regeneron in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. With these advances, Sanofi will be able to add a string to the bow of Dupixent, which is already used in one or more countries for numerous indications, such as asthma, atopic dermatitis or nodular prurigo.
Sanofi had indicated that it was expecting a peak in sales generated by Dupixent of more than 13 billion euros on an annual basis. A cautious forecast, with analysts’ targets set significantly higher. According to Richard Vosser, an analyst at JPMorgan quoted by Reuters, the market consensus for Dupixent sales in 2027, which stands at 15.7 billion euros, should be exceeded by the order of one to two billion euros. euros.
Fitch upgrades Sanofi’s credit rating
In addition, Sanofi attracts the good graces of Fitch contrary to Casino, which had seen its note degraded last week. For the pharmaceutical company, the rating agency raised its long-term credit rating from ‘A+’ to ‘AA-‘, with a stable outlook.
This credit rating upgrade reflects Sanofi’s repositioning towards innovative pharmaceuticals and vaccines “that support profitability.” The acquisitions made over the past three years, including that of Amunix, will enable Sanofi to accelerate this strategic repositioning in order to offset the decline in sales of diabetes-related products and its portfolio of “first-line medicine” drugs.
Fitch also justifies its rating by the diversification and leading positions of Sanofi in the global pharmaceutical markets. The rating agency also appreciates the “solid” margins generated by Sanofi as well as the “great” financial flexibility of the French group.
On the Paris Stock Exchange, Sanofi hardly reacts to these two news items. The title of the French pharmaceutical giant is down 0.9% in a hesitant Parisian market.
Sabrina Sadgui – ©2023 BFM Bourse
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