Sanofi sees major China boost from heart, diabetes drugs, exec says

SINGAPORE--China sales of Sanofi's ($SNY) heart and diabetes drugs contributed heavily to sales growth in the country last year, with the market witnessing twice the growth of the rest of the world combined.

The France-based company said it measured China sales growth of 8.8%, compared with 4.9% in the rest of the world.

The senior vice president of the company's Sanofi Asia and Sanofi China offices said at a news briefing the firm expects vaccines and diabetes drugs to drive sales growth in the coming year.

Jean-Luc Lowinski added that the strategy was to expand into lower-tier cities and counties in the Asia region with high-quality generic drugs.

He said the company is also considering launching new OTC products in collaboration with local drugmakers in the region.

China accounted for $1.8 billion in overall sales last year to contribute to Sanofi's global sales of $38.3 billion.

- read the story from Shanghai Daily