Sanofi-Aventis CEO Chris Viehbacher told the Financial Times that the pharma giant had "missed the boat" when it comes to diversifying into biologics. But he adds that Sanofi has the money it needs to redouble its efforts to strengthen its pipeline. In the interview, Viehbacher also made it clear that he has a dim view of the path Pfizer is taking with its acquisition of Wyeth.
"On the surface you would have to say the big deals of the past have not necessarily fulfilled the criteria of shareholder value," he told the FT. "I don't want Sanofi-Aventis to be bigger in people and sites. Size is an issue...that led to lower productivity."
Sanofi-Aventis has been attracting plenty of attention in recent days as it moves to line up billions of dollars to make new acquisitions as the biopharma industry undergoes a major consolidation. In terms of new drug development, he tells the FT that Sanofi will follow the steps of other major pharma companies like Novartis and draw in government and private insurers to make sure they were focused on new drugs that would deliver "value to the marketplace."
- read the report from the Financial Times
ALSO: Viehbacher is putting his stamp on the company with new expansion plans--and probably new layoffs. The newly minted CEO needs to slice $1.3 billion in costs from his P&L, analysts say, a figure that can't be reached without another round of job cuts. Report