Sanofi to start pharmaceutical ingredients company

Sanofi would spin off a new company that will create the active chemical ingredients for drugs, expanding into a market currently dominated by firms in China and India. The company plans an initial public offering for the new firm, which will be based in France and which is forecast to have sales of 1 billion euros in 2022.
“The need for such a company is being brought sharply into focus by outbreaks of a novel coronavirus that threaten pharmaceutical supply chains. Right now, 60 percent of active pharmaceutical ingredients come from China, and 13 percent come from India”, said Paul Hudson, Sanofi’s CEO, Sanofi.