Sanofi saves face with its own Covid-19 vaccine

The French pharmaceutical, which had disappointed in the French country for not having a vaccine ready on time, will achieve record revenue this year and increase profit by 50% compared to 2021. The action registered an all-time high in January. |

They say it’s all made up. Even the sculptor Alberto Giacometti, famous for his extremely thin bronze human figures, was inspired by the Ombra della sera (the shadow of the night): a 2,300-year-old Etruscan statue that can be visited these days in the .

In one way or another, there is always someone who is ahead. It happened with the Covid-19 vaccines, where Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna were pioneers, while the French company Sanofi announced just last week that the vaccine that it develops with GSK from a recombinant protein (it is not messenger RNA) is already available. list. In fact, both pharmaceutical companies reported that they have already started to obtain sales authorization.

Although the pandemic is beginning to subside in most countries, “we continue to believe that the developed-endemic market opportunity will remain substantial for years to come (i.e., doses in the hundreds of millions at $20+ still equate to a endemic market of more than 10,000 million dollars)”, maintains the analysis team of Deutsche Bank.

From Bloomberg Intelligence, the reaction is less optimistic: “the vaccine will have a place among people who are reluctant to mRNA vaccines and in low-income countries, which will mean a modest commercial impact for Sanofi and Glaxo.”

After obtaining revenues of 37,761 million euros last year, sales will exceed 40,000 million for the first time in 2022, always according to the forecasts of the consensus of analysts collected by FactSet. Between 2021 and 2024, turnover would increase by 18%.

Regarding net profit, the estimated figure is 9,200 million for this year, 49% more than in 2021, although below the historical profit of 12,294 million that it registered in 2020. But, between 2021 and 2024, the company will earn 67% more.

The market takes this into account and that is why Sanofi’s share broke a record in January at 94.89 euros, although this week it fell to the area of ​​87 euros. The French firm is worth around 110,000 million on the stock market and its dividend yield (3.86%) is among the highest in the sector.

Likewise, for Sanofi’s 2022 benefits, multiples of 12.16 times are paid compared to 6.8 times for Pfizer, 10.5 times for AbbVie or 18.6 times for AstraZeneca.

Apart from the Covid-19 vaccine, the French company has indicated in recent days that the results of phases 3 and 2/3 of the clinical trials show that the nirsevimab compound has the potential to protect babies through RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) season with one dose. This virus is the most common germ that causes lung and respiratory tract infections in infants and young children. Sanofi has teamed up with the British AstraZeneca to develop this drug.