The billion-dollar expansion of Sanofi’s R&D relationship with antibody platform firm Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, announced in November, effectively turns Regeneron into Sanofi’s external antibody shop through 2017 and gives Paris-based Sanofi a potential bounty of monoclonal antibodies for its pipeline.
just as its old-line small molecule products
such as the blockbuster blood-thinner
clopidogrel (Plavix) face generic competition
for the first time.
In the run-up to his first anniversary as CEO of
Sanofi, Chris Viehbacher talked
about wresting control from scientists who didn't want to look
outside for new ideas or products. "I think we have been able to
open up the walls of the company," Viehbacher told the Financial
Times in November.
There's no greater example of Viehbacher's push than the billion-dollar expansion of Sanofi's R&D relationship with antibody platform firm