The company is in the process of launching its much-awaited product Soliqua, a combination of insulin glargine 100 units/mL and lixisenatide, in India.
In clinical trials, Soliqua has shown improved blood sugar control without weight gain and without low blood sugar events (hypoglycemia).
“India is super important for us,” said Rodolfo Hrosz, MD, Sanofi India, in an interview with ET. “One-fifth of people on the planet live in this country. If we have to fulfil our mission (statement) to chase the miracles of science to improve people’s lives, we have to be in India. And, second is that we want to tap the strong talent pool available here.”
Sanofi produces the commonly used medicines Allegra, Avil and Combiflam.
Under Hrosz, who took charge of Sanofi’s India business in June 2022, the drug maker has decided to focus on diabetes, consumer health, innovation and go-to-market transformation that involves licensing out non-core products to partners. Hrosz calls this the “India for India” strategy.Hrosz said the company has made a lot of progress. It has successfully moved to the One Diabetes Business Unit, where it has brought all products pertaining to the anti-diabetes category under the same roof with the same group of people and same leadership.The company has localised manufacturing of its human insulin ‘Insuman’, and with Lantus coming under the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) and subsequent price control, Sanofi has cut its price by 21%, which brings it product on parity with biosimilars.
Hrosz said the volume growth in Lantus is more than compensating for the price drop.
Sanofi has also decided to demerge its consumer health business into a separate legal entity, to allow it to have independence to pursue its growth strategies. Hrosz said he expects to complete the demerger by July this year.
For products, Hrosz said, the view was that Sanofi would be able to do justice to expanding reach. For this, it employed a partnership strategy and gave out distribution licenses to Cipla for its central nervous system (CNS) products and Emcure for cardiovascular brands.
On the innovation pipeline, Sanofi is also planning to launch Rezurock (belumosudil) – an immunomodulator that’s used in bone marrow transplant patients. It also plans to launch three drugs, including its top-selling Dupixent (dupilumab), which is used for treating allergic diseases, Tzield to delay onset of Type-1 diabetes, and Beyfortus to help prevent serious lung disease caused by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in newborns and babies.
