BIG PHARMA EARNINGS WATCH: SANOFI
Sanofi Beats Wall Street Expectations, Touts Anti-Competitive Strategy on Blockbuster Dupixent
Last week, Sanofi reported fourth quarter earnings that surpassed Wall Street analysts’ expectations, increasing their guidance for 2026. The Big Pharma company reported the blockbuster earnings after hiking drug prices for American patients throughout 2025.
During Sanofi’s fourth quarter earnings call, Houman Ashrafian, Head of Research and Development at Sanofi touted the company’s extensive patent strategy around blockbuster eczema and asthma treatment Dupixent, “We do expect Dupixent to be protected by its patents beyond March 2031 in the U.S. That’s the reality. As you can imagine, lots of innovation, lots of indications, and counting. These have been recognized by multiple, and thank you for going through them, granted and to be granted patents ranging from 2031 to 2035. We believe we have a very strong patent portfolio, which we intend to vigorously defend. You’ll understand it’s too early to speculate on specific dates or biosimilarity if and when patent fights commence. We’ll be able to give you more details of what is being challenged and where, but we feel we’re in a good place with multiple patents.”
Sanofi’s eagerness to game the patent system to block and delay competition to Dupixent will be costly for American patients and taxpayers. For example, Medicare Part D spending on specialty brand name drugs like Dupixent has dramatically increased, while manufacturers have continued hiking prices.
According to a 2025 study published in JAMA Dermatology, conducted by researchers affiliated with Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, “inflation-adjusted Medicare Part D spending increased… from $768 million in 2013 to $2.95 billion in 2022,” with specialty prescription drugs, like Dupixent, driving “98.4% of this growth, increasing from 30.8% of all dermatology drug spending in 2013 to 80.9% in 2022, despite being only 2.9% of prescriptions.”
The report found that “[n]ew therapies approved after 2013 (Otezla, Cosentyx, Taltz, Dupixent, Tremfya, Skyrizi, and Odomzo) accounted for 69.5% of all spending growth,” and that “[a]verage inflation-adjusted prices per 30-day prescription for specialty medications increased by 5.1% per year, from $3738 in 2013 to $5872 in 2022. In contrast, prices for nonspecialty medications decreased by 5.3% annually relative to inflation.”
Get the full recap on Sanofi earnings here:
- Sanofi reported strong fourth quarter earnings that beat Wall Street estimates.
- Sanofi’s Q4 sales grew 13.3 percent to $13.5 billion, with total 2025 sales reaching $52 billion.
- Sanofi’s blockbuster eczema and asthma treatment Dupixent generated $5 billion in sales for Q4, exceeding forecasts.
- The French drugmaker said sales would rise by a high single-digit percentage in 2026, with profit growing slightly faster.
Sanofi’s Q4 earnings follow price hikes across their portfolio recent years – including at the start of 2026.
Stay tuned as we continue to monitor fourth quarter earnings calls from brand name drug companies in the coming weeks.
Read more on Q4 earnings from Johnson & Johnson HERE.
Learn more about solutions to lower prescription drug prices and hold Big Pharma accountable HERE.
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