Shares in French pharma company Sanofi climbed around 3% in premarket activity after it posted a profit in its 2020 fourth quarter (Q4) results, following a net loss in the same period last year.
In Q4 2019, Sanofi posted a small €10m net loss as the company began implementing a streamlined R&D approach.
Jumping forward to Q4 2020, net sales climbed by 4.2% to €9.38bn, with a profit per share of €0.86 compared to a loss of €0.01.
Sanofi’s speciality care business performed particularly well, growing 18.3% thanks to the strong performance of immunology product Dupixent (dupilumab).
The monoclonal antibody brought in a total of €982m in Q4, representing a growth of 54.2% at constant exchange rates. For the full year, Dupixent generated sales of €3.5bn, again making gains on Sanofi’s financial 2019 Q4 results with a 73.9% climb.
Sanofi attributed Dupixent’s growth in 2020 to continued demand in atopic dermatitis among adult and adolescent patients, as well as ‘rapid adoption’ of the drug in children.
Oncology sales were also up in Q4 2020, growing 24.6% to €213m – driven primarily by new launches of multiple myeloma treatment Sarclisa (isatuximab) and skin cancer therapy Libtayo (cemiplimab).
Meanwhile, sales in Sanofi’s multiple sclerosis/neurology/other inflammation & immunology were down 1.3% and rare disease sales grew 3% to €734m.
Vaccines sales were also up 14.6%, thanks to demand for Sanofi’s influenza vaccines and higher Polio/Pertussis/Hib (PPH) vaccines.
For its 2021 guidance, Sanofi expects business earnings per share to grow high single digit at constant exchange rates.
“We bolstered our R&D pipeline with the completion of the Synthorx and Principia acquisitions, met several regulatory milestones to bring our important medicines to patients, and have seen several proofs of concept which reassure us about the priorities we chose,” said Paul Hudson, chief executive officer of Sanofi.
“We continue to work in parallel on our two COVID-19 vaccine candidates, with clinical trials starting in the coming weeks.
“At the same time we want to make a more immediate contribution to help saving lives, which is why we have decided to provide manufacturing support to BioNTech and Pfizer,” he added.