Sanofi reported lower-than-expected profit for the second quarter as the French drugmaker spent more to develop new treatments.

Earnings per share excluding some items rose 1.9% to €1.59, the company said Thursday, lower than the €1.67 estimated by analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Sales were as expected, led by new indications for the blockbuster Dupixent.

Sanofi is looking for new drugs and vaccines that can eventually succeed Dupixent, which is expected to generate more than €21 billion in annual revenue at its peak. Chief Executive Officer Paul Hudson is pushing a dozen potential top-selling medicines through costly clinical trials and clinching deals to expand in immunology.

The French drugmaker now expects sales for this year to grow by a high single-digit percentage — at the top end of its previous range — at constant exchange rates. It reiterated the outlook for profit to grow by low double-digit percentage.

“I have no concern whatsoever on our EPS growth this year,” Chief Financial Officer François-Xavier Roger said on a call with reporters. The lower-than-expected earnings per share growth was due to a one-time item, he said, namely additional income last year from a milestone payment. By the end of the year, Sanofi expects to have R&D spending in line with what it planned at the start of the year.

In the past two months, Sanofi has agreed to buy Blueprint Medicines Corp. for at least $9.1 billion and UK biotech Vicebio Ltd. for as much as $1.6 billion. The Vicebio deal brings experimental vaccines and a technology to streamline their development in a vote of confidence for a field rattled by US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s skeptical views about immunizations.

Demand for Dupixent, originally approved for eczema and asthma, is getting a boost after regulators approved it last year for a chronic lung disorder called COPD that’s emerged as a competitive market. Sales surged 21% to €3.8 billion ($4.3 billion) last quarter, in line with analysts’ estimates.

The outcome of a US investigation into the pharmaceutical industry, which will set the level of tariffs for drugs, leaves many unknowns regarding trade with the US, according to Roger. But under scenarios discussed in the media, including the recent agreement between the European Union and the US that sets pharma tariffs at 15%, Sanofi views the potential impacts as “manageable,” he said.