Sanofi posts strong full-year figures despite development setbacks
By Josh White
Date: Thursday 29 Jan 2026
(Sharecast News) - Sanofi reported strong fourth-quarter and full-year results for 2025 on Thursday, underpinned by robust growth from its blockbuster asthma and dermatology treatment Dupixent, while forecasting another year of profitable growth in 2026 despite lingering concerns over its pipeline and vaccine demand.
Fourth-quarter sales rose 13.3% at constant exchange rates to €11.3bn, while business earnings per share increased 26.7% at CER to €1.53, comfortably ahead of market expectations.
For the full year, sales grew 9.9% at CER to €43.6bn and business earnings per share rose 15.0% to €7.83, reflecting operating leverage and cost discipline.
Free cash flow climbed 35.8% to €8.1bn, and Sanofi completed its €5bn share buyback programme.
Growth in the quarter was driven by a 32.2% increase in Dupixent sales to €4.2bn, reinforcing its status as Sanofi's primary growth engine.
Newly-launched medicines also contributed strongly, with pharma launches delivering €1.1bn in sales, up nearly 50%, led by Ayvakit and Altuviiio.
Vaccine sales fell 2.5% to €2bn, though influenza performed better than anticipated amid broader weakness in global vaccine demand.
Sanofi said it expect#ed sales in 2026 to grow by a high single-digit percentage at constant exchange rates, with business EPS growing slightly faster than revenue, and announced a new €1bn share buyback for the year.
The company reiterated that it expected profitable growth to continue for at least five years, an outlook broadly in line with analyst expectations, though tempered by uncertainty around vaccines.
Chief executive Paul Hudson acknowledged that investor confidence in the pipeline has been tested following mixed clinical trial outcomes, including the failure of tolebrutinib in primary progressive multiple sclerosis, which triggered €2.24bn in impairment charges.
However, he said the group remained confident it would deliver breakthroughs alongside inevitable setbacks, noting that pharmaceutical turnarounds typically take five to seven years.
Pipeline progress during 2025 included 10 regulatory approvals across immunology and rare diseases, alongside positive phase three readouts for amlitelimab in atopic dermatitis and Dupixent in chronic sinus disease.
Research and development spending rose 6.6% to €2.3bn as Sanofi intensified investment following the sale of a controlling stake in its consumer health business to become a pure-play pharmaceutical company.
Shares in Sanofi were little changed in Paris after the results, having fallen around 24% over the past year.
Management said vaccine sales could remain slightly negative in 2026, particularly in the United States, where shifting political and regulatory attitudes toward immunisation had weighed on uptake, though the company stressed that changes in guidance had limited impact on clinical practice so far.
At 1145 CET (1045 GMT), shares in Sanofi were down 0.43% at €77.21.
Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.
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