[Ip-health] Wall Street Journal Health Blog: Sanofi-Aventis Set to Join Pharma Acquisition Party

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

February 2, 2009, 9:09 am

Sanofi-Aventis Set to Join Pharma Acquisition Party
Posted by Jacob Goldstein

Chris ViehbacherWith Pfizer buying Wyeth, Eli Lilly digesting ImClone
and Roche maneuvering to seal the deal with Genentech, maybe Sanofi-
Aventis figures it can make a big acquisition without getting sucked
into a bidding war.

The company=92s new CEO Chris Viehbacher told employees Friday that
Sanofi will be looking to acquisitions to grow and diversify, the
Financial Times reports. Citing reports in the French Media, Dow Jones
Newswires says Viehbacher is interested in over-the-counter drugs,
vaccines and cancer drugs.

The CEO said Sanofi generates 4 billion euros every year, which could
be put toward acquisitions, a union official who listened to
Viehbacher=92s presentation told Bloomberg.

In a list of possible acquisition targets, the FT rounds up the usual
suspects: Amgen, Biogen Idec and Bristol-Myers Squibb, which partners
with Sanofi on the blood thinner Plavix.

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Thiru Balasubramaniam
Geneva Representative
Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
thiru@keionline.org


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