Sanofi and Bayer exchange executives hope to stop diabetes and heart failure

Sanofi has announced a major restructuring of its business, seeking to stand out from rising costs and falling profits to create a new global primary care business, as well as its China and emerging markets divisions.
the transformation involves Sanofi swapping executives with its German rival Bayer , whose current head of diabetes and cardiovascular expertise, Stefan Oelrich, will head Bayer's pharmaceutical division. He is about to replace Dieter Weinand, who will head Sanofi's new Global Primary Care Business Unit (GBU), which will combine Sanofi's existing Diabetes and Cardiovascular (DCV) GBU with existing products and is currently part of the General Medicines and Emerging Markets (GEM) division. The new primary care sector will focus on mature markets, freeing up space for new China and emerging markets sectors, reflecting the industry's transformation as new possibilities are opened up for reform in China. The department will be led by Olivier Charmeil, the current head of the GEM division.
, who joined Sanofi on November 1, served as lieutenant governor of Otsuka, New Jersey, and will work in Bridgewater, USA. Clearly, Weinand, a U.S. citizen, has been clearly designed to help address Sanofi's declining profits in the U.S., with its flagship drug insulin and diabetes products facing price pressures and fierce competition. First-quarter revenue fell 15 percent to $1,008 million in the Diabetes and Cardiovascular Division, while Lantus sales fell 30 percent in the same period.
key product that requires urgent attention is the new cholesterol treatment Praluent. The drug is competing with Amgen's Repatha, which earned just $73 million in the second quarter, compared with $148 million for competitors. The company needs to compete with Repatha for cardiovascular outcomes and has just submitted new data to the FDA. If approved, this would reduce the total number of major cardiovascular adverse events by 15 percent, although not as impressive as Repatha's data. Sanofi is also looking for profit growth in its newly expanded portfolio of specialties pharmaceuticals. The EMA has just approved its acquired thrombocyte reduction cyanosis (aTTP) therapy Cablivi, which is expected to pass the FDA's decision in February after acquiring the main assets of Belgium's Ablynx Biotech for 9.3 billion euros. (This net special draft)