Sanofi-aventis: Encouraging First-Quarter 2008 Results Further Positive Phase III Results for Ep...(adolescenttetanus-diphtheria-pertussis b...),Health

The overall growth rate for Q1 2008 was impacted by the timing of certain sales that will materialize in subsequent quarters (compared to 2007) and lower production yields of influenza vaccines for the southern hemisphere compared to last year, due to changes in the formulation.

In April, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has accepted delivery of a new batch of H5N1 bulk vaccine antigen. Sanofi Pasteur has a multi-year contract with the HHS as part of its pandemic program and will receive for this new batch a payment of $192.5 million booked in the second quarter of 2008.

EURO million Q1 2008 net sales Change on a

comparable basis

Influenza Vaccines 45 -21.1%

Polio/Pertussis/Hib Vaccines 168 -2.9%

Meningitis/Pneumonia Vaccines 116 +45.0%

Adult Booster Vaccines 102 -10.5%

Travel & Other Endemics Vaccines 79 +2.6%

Other Vaccines 38 +18.8%

TOTAL 548 +2.8%

First-quarter sales at Sanofi Pasteur MSD, the joint venture with Merck & Co in Europe, increased by 87.4% on a reported basis to EURO 279 million, boosted by the success of Gardasil(R), the first vaccine against papillomavirus infections (which cause cervical cancer). Net sales de Gardasil(R) were EURO 162 million, compared with EURO 23 million in the first quarter of 2007.

On February 13, 2008, sanofi pasteur announced that it had filed a centralized marketing authorization application with the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) for the first influenza vaccine delivered by an innovative intradermal (ID) microinjection system. The fil
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