Sanofi-Aventis (SNY) reported fourth quarter earnings of 96 cents per American Depository Share (ADS), a penny above the Zacks Consensus Estimate but below the year-ago earnings of $1.04. Full year earnings came in at $4.69 per ADS, in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate and 1.7% above the year-ago earnings.
Fourth quarter net sales declined 5.9%, with performance being impacted by the genericization of several products, especially Lovenox in the U.S., U.S. healthcare reform and EU pricing austerity. Full year sales declined 0.8%. During 2010, sales worth more than €2 billion were impacted by generic competition. Meanwhile, EU austerity measures and U.S. healthcare reform impacted 2010 sales by €450 million.
The Quarter in Detail
Pharmaceutical segment sales declined 2.7%, mainly due to the entry of generic Lovenox and Ambien CR in the U.S., the impact of U.S. healthcare reform and EU austerity measures, and generic competition for Plavix and Taxotere in Europe.
The diabetes franchise (up 8.8%) continued performing well, with growth being driven by Lantus (up 8.8%), and Apidra (up 24.3%). Eloxatin sales increased 101.5% during the quarter reflecting a partial recovery of sales in the U.S.
Meanwhile, Plavix continued to face generic erosion in the U.S. and in some parts of Europe. While Plavix revenues declined 45.1% in Europe due to increased generic competition, the product continued to grow at a decent rate in the U.S. (up 8.9%) and at a robust rate in both Japan (up 30.1%) and China (up 34.2%). Plavix is expected to lose U.S. exclusivity on May 17, 2012. Sanofi has a co-promotion agreement with Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) for Plavix.
As expected, Lovenox sales (down 26.9%) continued to decline during the fourth quarter due to the entry of generic competition in the U.S. Sales in the U.S. plunged 51.7%. Taxotere lost market exclusivity in Nov 2010 and recorded a 20.1% decline
