Last updated:February 8, 2012 8:15 pm
By Andrew Jack in London
Sanofi, the French pharmaceutical group, will receive a $270m payment from its generic rival Apotex over rights to its blockbuster blood thinner Plavix, briefly easing the impact of patent expiries on one of the world’s top-selling drugs.
The settlement – bringing to an end a decade-old legal dispute – came as Sanofi posted 2011 pre-tax profits ahead of joint ventures down 14 per cent to €5.3bn on sales up 3 per cent to €33.4bn. Sanofi warned that loss of exclusivity on Plavix and Avapro would this year help depress earnings by a further 12-15 per cent.
Plavix, which is set to be the world’s top-selling drug following the patent expiries on Pfizer&rsq
