Sanofi-Aventis profits rise 53.6 percent on Exubera licence sale

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2006

PARIS (AFP) — Pharmaceutical group Sanofi-Aventis has reported that first-quarter net profit had surged by 53.6 percent with a big injection from the sale of the patent for diabetes treatment Exubera to US group Pfizer.

Net profit amounted to 2.173 billion euros (2.76 billion dollars), far above the figure forecast by analysts and despite competition from generic medicines in the United States.

Sanofi-Aventis, the third-biggest pharmaceutical group in the world, said Friday that the sale of the Exubera patent had generated a post-tax capital gain of 384 million euros.

Excluding this exceptional contribution, net profit rose by 20.4 percent.

But Sanofi-Aventis was cautious about the outlook for 2006, holding to its forecast at the beginning of the...