PARIS, July 29 (Xinhua) -- The business income of Sanofis- Aventis, largest French pharmaceutical producer, rose by 7.6 percent over the second quarter this year due to growing sales mainly in emerging markets, according to the company's quarterly result released Thursday.
The quarterly net profit of the world's fourth-largest drug maker by prescription sales stood at 2.48 billion euros (3.24 billion U.S. dollars) driven up by a 4.6 percent rise in sales, totaling 7.78 billion euros, despite fierce competition in and outside Europe.
In emerging markets, the group's sales jumped by 12.8 percent over the second quarter to 2.28 billion euros, while that in the United States, which is the first largest global pharmaceutical market, fell by 5.5 percent, according to the company's figures.
"I'm pleased with the group's quarterly performance in an environment impacted by the U.S. healthcare reform, price cuts in Europe and continued competition from generics," the firm's Chief Executive Officer Christopher Viehbacher commented.
"Our objective to enhance innovation in R&D is on track, thanks to both internal transformations and numerous partnerships and acquisitions," he added.
Given the approval of a U.S. generic of Lovenox, an injected drug for preventing life-threatening blood clots, Viehbacher revised down the former target of 2 to 5 percent annual growth, but confirmed other targets.
For whole 2010 in a no-unexpectedness scenario, Sanofi foresaw earnings per share to be flat, which means to shrink by 4 percent at constant exchange rate compared to 2009's level, considering impacts of U.S. health reform and Europe's price cuts. (1 U.S. dollar = 0.7651 euros)
