When Paul Hudson took over Sanofi back in 2019, he laid out an ambitious plan to modernize the company and drive long-term growth. With two launches and 27 readouts expected in 2023 as of now, Sanofi has approached the “steady state” Hudson had planned for when he took over as CEO.
Speaking at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, Hudson reiterated the four-pillar strategy he first detailed back in 2019: a focus on growth, leading with innovation, accelerating efficiency and restructuring how the company operates. It took a few years, but now Hudson feels the company is moving at a good pace.
A year like 2023, with two best-in-class, first-in-class launches in Altuviiio for hemophilia A and Beyfortus in RSV, is “the new cadence” for the company. While it certainly comes with risks, “this is why we’re here,” Hudson said.
“This, for Sanofi, is what an average year should look like,” Hudson noted. “This is what we’ve been working towards since we got together as a team and laid out our strategy at the end of 2019.”
Altuviiio’s potential approval date at the FDA is slated for Feb. 28. Sanofi and its partner on the drug, Sobi, dropped impressive phase 3 data for the drug in March, setting it up as a future competitor in the hemophilia market against BioMarin’s Roctavian and Roche’s Hemlibra.
Meanwhile, Beyfortus in November scored approval from the European Medicines Agency. As of now, the antibody is the first and only single-dose RSV prophylactic option for infants. The drug can be given to any baby, even babies born preterm, regardless of health conditions. At the time of that nod, Sanofi said that it and its Beyfortus partner, AstraZeneca, are targeting the fall of 2023 for a U.S. launch. The FDA just accepted their application last week with a target action date of the third quarter of 2023.
Then there’s Dupixent, longtime shining star of Sanofi’s immunology portfolio. When Hudson forecast more than 10 billion euros in peak sales for the drug in 2019, there were “some raised eyebrows,” he said.
Now, he’s sitting on top of a Dupixent throne. After adding multiple new indications, the drug is on a roll, so much so that Sanofi raised its peak sales target to more than 13 billion euros in March. Next up for the drug is a readout in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a market that includes more than 16 million Americans.
“Where this could take us could be absolutely incredible,” Hudson said, referencing Dupixent and its next readout in COPD.