BIG PHARMA EARNINGS WATCH: SANOFI

Big Pharma Giant Sees Profits Jump After July Price Hikes

Big Pharma giant Sanofi topped earnings expectations while continuing to hike prices, new second-quarter earnings show.

• Sanofi beat earnings expectations this quarter and reported a net profit jump to $8.9 billion.
• Strong growth this quarter was driven by eczema and asthma drug Dupixent.
• Strong Q2 results led the French giant to raise its 2020 earnings forecast.

• Sanofi has already raised prices at least nine times this year by an average of five percent – more than two times the rate of inflation.
• In the first week of July, Sanofi was among Big Pharma giants that announced new price hikes despite the unprecedented economic uncertainty facing millions of Americans grappling with the pandemic.
• Dupixent was one of the primary sales drivers for the company in Q1. This year, Sanofi raised the price of Dupixent by three percent.

Earlier this year, Sanofi was also caught exploiting charities to boost the company’s bottom line at the expense of taxpayers. In a settlement, Sanofi was ordered to pay the U.S. government nearly $12 million after the company “used a charity that helps cover Medicare patients’ out-of-pocket drug costs as a means to pay them kickbacks to use a high-priced multiple sclerosis drug,” Reuters reports. “Sanofi used a supposed charity as a conduit to funnel money to patients taking Sanofi’s very expensive drug, all at the expense of the Medicare program,” said U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling. Read more HERE.

See how other brand name drug companies Pfizer, Amgen, Novartis, and Johnson & Johnson also beat Wall Street expectations after hiking prices on American patients HERE, HERE and HERE.

Check back this week as we continue to monitor Q2 earnings announcements from Big Pharma.