Recasts with CEO comments on vaccines, adds graphics

By Bhanvi Satija

LONDON, Jan 29 (Reuters) - France's Sanofi SASY.PA, among the world's largest vaccine makers, said on Thursday that its vaccines sales would be "slightly negative" this year, partly due to U.S. policy changes under President Donald Trump.

Sanofi is eyeing high-single-digit overall sales growth in 2026. But vaccines will remain a weak spot in the United States where Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime anti-vaccine activist, has upended official recommendations in the past year.

"We recognize that the vaccine coverage rates will have dipped a little because of the debates that are happening in the public," CEO Paul Hudson said on a call after the firm reported its 2025 results.

He said there was "complexity" in the sector linked to the U.S. healthcare leadership. He added, however, that it was a good time for dealmaking and that Sanofi would stick to its long-term bullish view on the industry.

"There's no doubt that, in the short term, there's some challenge from the administration on the pediatric vaccines," he said.

"Bottom line is we have to continue to defend with evidence the positive impact of vaccines and we will always do that irrespective of who is in the office."

BLOCKBUSTER DRUG DUPIXENT WILL BE HARD TO REPLACE

Following a string of underwhelming trial data last year and a series of bolt-on acquisitions, Sanofi is still searching for new medicines that could help drive growth once its blockbuster asthma drug Dupixent loses key patents in the early 2030s.

Shares of the drugmaker slid nearly 12% in 2025, underperforming the broader European sector index. They were largely flat on Thursday following the results announcement.

Chief Financial Officer François-Xavier Roger said that the company will not be able to offset the loss of sales once Dupixent, Sanofi's largest revenue driver, comes off patent.

"It's too big to be mitigated," Roger said on a call.

He added, however, that Sanofi was working to cushion the impact on an earnings per share basis through products already on the market, new launches expected through 2031 and external acquisitions.

"The idea is not for us to go shopping and just spend 15 billion (euros) this year for the sake of spending 15 billion. We take the necessary time to acquire assets that make sense from a strategic point of view," he said.

Sanofi's largest deal in 2025 was a $9.5 billion acquisition of Blueprint Medicines that added Ayvakit, an approved drug for a rare blood disorder, to its portfolio.

The company forecast business operating income to grow slightly faster than sales this year, and plans to buy back 1 billion euros ($1.20 billion) in shares. In 2025, Sanofi completed a 5-billion-euro share buyback programme.

For the fourth quarter, business operating income was 2.34 billion euros, compared to 2.37 billion euros expected on average by analysts in a company-provided poll.

($1 = 0.8368 euros)

(Reporting by Bhanvi Satija in London; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Joe Bavier)

((Bhanvi.Satija@thomsonreuters.com;))