Sanofi hit from EU Lovenox copies seen minor: broker

Sanofi hit from EU Lovenox copies seen minor: broker

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PARIS (Global Markets) - French drugmaker Sanofi (SASY.PA) faces limited impact from proposals that could make it easier for generic competitors to sell a biosimilar version of its blood-thinner Lovenox in Europe, Deutsche Bank analysts said on Friday.

Although the European Medicines Agency wants to update its guideline on biosimilar drugs, the brokerage reckons that the drug's much lower price in Europe than in the United States and competition from similar treatments could deter generic drugmakers from developing cheap copies of Lovenox.

"While the entire loss of EU Lovenox sales by 2015 would lower our EPS (earnings per share) by 4 percent, in practice we see no more than 1-2 percent EPS sensitivity," the analysts said in a note to investors.

Despite its having lost patent protection, there are no Lovenox biosimilars in Europe because current guidelines require a comparative clinical trial in each of its six indications.

Novartis' (NOVN.VX) generic unit Sandoz, which sells a biosimilar version of Lovenox in the United States with Momenta Pharmaceuticals (MNTA.O), has said this process would be too expensive.

Sales of Lovenox, once one of Sanofi's multi-billion euro selling products, totaled 1.1 billion euros ($1.6 billion) in the first half of 2011.

Sanofi shares, which have lost around 10 percent of their value since the start of the year, were trading virtually unchanged at 52.52 euros at 1425 GMT (10:25 a.m. EDT).

($1 = 0.707 Euros)

(Reporting By Elena Berton; Editing by Christian Plumb and Ben Hirschler)