Sanofi Builds Blood Disorder Specialty With Bioverativ Buy

Sanofi is making a big bet on blood disorders with the $11.6bn acquisition of Bioverativ Inc. The acquisition, announced Jan. 22, will position Sanofi as a leader in hemophilia, but the competition in the category is fierce and the prospect of gene therapy sits just on the horizon, raising questions about the steep premium Sanofi has paid.

In addition to two marketed drugs that are on track to generate more than $1bn in combined revenues in 2017, Eloctate (recombinant Factor VIII) for hemophilia A and Alprolix (recombinant Factor IX) for hemophilia B, Sanofi will gain a pipeline that includes a Phase III drug for the rare blood disease cold agglutinin disease (CAgD), a gene-edited cell therapy for beta-thalassemia that's ready for the clinic and a preclinical gene therapy for hemophilia