PARIS, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Sanofi, a French multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Paris, saw its sales increase 3.3 percent year-on-year to reach 36,041 million euros (about 43,610 million U.S. dollars) in 2020, said the company in its full-year report released on Friday.
In the fourth quarter of 2020, Sanofi sales grew by 4.2 percent, thanks to increases in specialty care sales (18.3 percent) and vaccines (14.6 percent) "driven by record demand for differentiated influenza vaccines and continued growth of PPH (Polio Pertussis Hib combination vaccines)," it said.
Regionally, its full-year sales grew by 8.2 percent in the United States to reach 13,465 million euros, and by 1.5 percent in Europe to 9,151 million euros.
In the rest of the world, Sanofi saw its full-year sales increase 0.2 percent to 13,425 million euros, "reflecting the impact of the VBP (volume-based procurement) program in China during the first nine months of the year," said the report.
In China, Sanofi Q4 sales increased 9.9 percent to 492 million euros and full-year 2020 sales reached 2,454 million euros. China launched the centralized drug-procurement program in 2019 to boost drug accessibility for patients and reduce the financial burden of treatment.
On COVID-19 vaccine projects, Sanofi said it will continue to develop its own candidates while producing authorized vaccines launched by other pharma giants.
"We continue to work in parallel on our two COVID-19 vaccine candidates, with clinical trials starting in the coming weeks. At the same time we want to make a more immediate contribution to help saving lives, which is why we have decided to provide manufacturing support to BioNTech and Pfizer," said Sanofi chief executive officer Paul Hudson in a press release. Enditem