Sanofi (SNY) chief executive Belén Garijo has used her first earnings call as CEO to lay out an ambitious vision for reversing the French pharmaceutical giant’s recent fortunes.
Garijo, who previously led Germany’s Merck KGaA, addressed both the company’s persistent challenges and the strengths she intends to build upon in the years ahead.
“Over the past 12 weeks, I have listened, I have learned, and I have completed the critical phase of my diagnosis,” Garijo said at the top of Sanofi’s Q2 earnings call, signalling that early conclusions are already translating into actionable decisions.
Sanofi posted a stellar second quarter, with sales of more than 11.5 billion euros, equivalent to around $13.4 billion, coming in 8% ahead of consensus forecasts, according to Jefferies analysts.
Much of that momentum was driven by immunology megablockbuster Dupixent, co-marketed with Regeneron, which grew nearly 38% year over year to reach sales of 5.2 billion euros in Q2 alone.
Jefferies credited a 16% beat by Dupixent as a central driver of Sanofi’s outperformance, underlining just how dominant the drug has become within the company’s broader revenue mix.
Garijo stated that Sanofi’s relationship with Regeneron is “close to my heart,” adding that the arrangement “is of strategic importance for Sanofi” and that efforts to explore further collaboration “have been productive.”
Dupixent accounted for roughly half of the company’s Q2 revenue, though the drug faces a significant headwind as key patent protections are set to expire in 2031, threatening a critical income stream.
When pressed on whether Sanofi plans to pursue major mergers and acquisitions to offset that looming patent cliff, Garijo remained noncommittal, saying the company would be “looking for opportunities that fit our strategic imperatives” while remaining “very disciplined” with dealmaking.
The rest of Sanofi’s product portfolio lags considerably behind Dupixent, with its second-largest Q2 franchise being polio, pertussis, and influenza B vaccines, which combined to generate 700 million euros, followed by long-acting insulin Lantus at 394 million euros.
Garijo stated: “We delivered double-digit sales growth and strong business EPS growth in Q2. Sales increased by 17.8%, driven by Pharma launches, including recent acquisitions, and by Dupixent, up by 37.6%.”
She added that business EPS rose 33.3%, supported by disciplined cost management, and that the pipeline delivered seven regulatory approvals, two positive phase 3 studies, and four additional regulatory designations during the period.
Backed by the strong first-half showing, Sanofi upgraded its 2026 full-year guidance, reflecting growing confidence that the company’s commercial momentum can be sustained despite an anticipated normalisation of growth in the second half.
Garijo succeeds Paul Hudson, who was pushed out following a series of high-profile setbacks in Sanofi’s clinical pipeline, and she used the Q2 call to open up in detail about her clinical strategy and approach to business.
She has appointed former Roche executive Paulo Fontoura, M.D., Ph.D., as Sanofi’s head of R&D, with Fontoura set to join in September as part of Garijo’s stated goal to “simplify the way we make decisions.”
On pipeline decisions, Garijo told reporters that the company does not “have a target number of products to discontinue,” adding that it will instead evaluate assets on scientific merit, long-term value creation, and risk profile.