Sanofi sets out to reinvent itself in Genzyme's biotech image

Genzyme CEO David Meeker must be smiling today. 

Sanofi ($SNY) CEO Chris Viehbacher is taking a page out of the Roche reinvention playbook. Just as Roche ($RHHBY) has restructured its Big Pharma R&D efforts around Genentech, Sanofi's Viehbacher sees its research ops being transformed by Genzyme's biotech example. And just as Genentech's vibrant research group ended up a dominant player at Roche, instead of being absorbed, Genzyme's top players are calling the shots in Sanofi's Boston hub, setting the pace for the rest of the company. If the two late-stage MS drugs now in Genzyme's hands go on to a near-term approval, you can expect this theme to become gospel at the pharma giant.

Genzyme execs are running the Boston hub now, reports Bloomberg, as Sanofi--which bought the biotech for $20 billion--continues an effort to concentrate its research work and partnerships in top global research centers. Sanofi is closing a big New Jersey R&D complex, just as Roche recently opted to do. And it's laying off thousands of investigators in France and other European countries as it pushes the new normal in Cambridge, MA. 

There's nothing new about Viehbacher's commitment to restructuring R&D. That's an effort that started when he took over the company more than four years ago. But a year after the buyout, the emphasis in R&D now has a distinct Boston accent.

"Genzyme has changed everything for Sanofi's research," analyst Vincent Meunier tells Bloomberg. "It meant a complete restart at Sanofi, a new foundation in the U.S. Cambridge is now the center of the world for them in terms of R&D."

Cambridge's gain is France's loss.

"Until now, about 50 percent of Sanofi's R&D employees were in France," says union leader Jean-Francois Chavance. "We don't know how this will evolve. The idea now is to scout for molecules outside the company, in small innovative groups, either in academia or in biotechs."

- here's the story from Bloomberg