Following yesterday's investment in Regeneron [1], Sanofi-Aventis' Marc Cluzel (photo [2]) reiterated the company's plans to aggressively pursue biotech buyouts. "If there is a good deal to be done, we will do it. We are very pragmatic," Cluzel told investors. Currently, only 10 percent of the drugs Sanofi makes are biologics; the company wants to boost that number to 20 or 30 percent by 2012.
Sanofi [3] isn't the only big pharma that has shifted its focus to biotech. Pfizer [4] has been on a year-long crusade to expand its biotech efforts, and AstraZeneca [5]formed a massive biotech unit when it united Cambridge Antibody Technologies with MedImmune to form a biotech powerhouse. As more big developers fill their pipelines with biologics, competition for the most promising biotech drugs is going to get tough.
- see this report [6] for more
Related Articles:
Lines blur as Big Pharma crosses borders into biotech. Report [7]
Sanofi snags bigger stake, new pact with Regeneron. Report [1]
Sanofi underscores pipeline advances, setbacks. Report [8]
Links:
[1] http://www.fiercebiotech.com/story/sanofi-snags-bigger-stake-new-pact-regeneron/2007-11-29
[2] http://www.fiercebiotech.com/pages/marc-cluzel-sanofi-aventis-senior-vice-president-scientific-and-medical-affairs
[3] http://www.fiercebiotech.com/special-reports/4-sanofi-aventis-top-15-r-d-budgets
[4] http://www.fiercebiotech.com/special-reports/1-pfizer-top-15-r-d-budgets
[5] http://www.fiercebiotech.com/special-reports/8-astrazeneca-top-15-r-d-budgets
[6] http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/newstex/AFX-0013-21333489.htm
[7] http://www.fiercebiotech.com/story/lines-blur-as-big-pharma-crosses-borders-into-biotech/2007-05-30
[8] http://www.fiercebiotech.com/story/sanofi-underscores-pipeline-advances-setbacks/2007-09-17