Sanofi India Limited

Sanofi India has undergone a significant business model transformation, aiming to strengthen its leadership in the insulin market and reposition for sustainable growth. This involves refining its structure, redesigning the go-to-market strategy for its insulin franchise, and digitally empowering teams. The company has also transitioned its legacy cardiovascular, central nervous system, and oral anti-diabetic portfolios to a partnership model to maximize reach and leverage partners' extensive networks.

The core strategy centers on its diabetes portfolio, with a strong focus on innovative products like Toujeo (second-generation basal insulin) and Soliqua (premix market), which was launched last year and is a key growth driver. Lantus continues to contribute to volume growth. The combined diabetes and partnership segment grew 4% YTD September 2025 and 5% quarter-to-quarter. Sanofi maintains market leadership in the glargine/basal insulin segment with a 62-63% share (Lantus ~50%, Toujeo ~12%).

Export sales, which constitute 12-13% of total sales, experienced a decline due to the divestment of the Ankleshwar site to Zentiva in 2020, with manufacturing authorization for Zentiva obtained only at the end of 2024. To mitigate this, Sanofi is expanding exports from its Goa site to new markets such as Russia (started end of last year) and South Africa (in plan). Despite the top-line impact, the effect on total profit before tax is limited to about 8% due to the lower profitability of export sales compared to domestic sales.

The company achieved significant OPEX optimization, with a 30% reduction versus the last quarter, leading to an improved OPEX ratio of 22%. This contributed substantially to the profit before tax (PBT), which saw its margin increase from 23% to 29% in Q3 2025. Management anticipates personnel cost savings to increase progressively over the next year, further enhancing overall profitability.

The partnership model for legacy brands (cardiovascular, CNS, oral anti-diabetic) is showing positive results, with this specific segment growing 2% YTD and 5% quarter-to-quarter. Management considers this growth adequate in a competitive market, as it enables Sanofi to leverage partners' extensive networks to reach Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, allowing Sanofi to maintain focus on its core insulin business.

Sanofi is implementing AI across all organizational levels, including commercial, finance, and regulatory affairs. AI is utilized for generative marketing tools, sales force support, OPEX optimization, and streamlining regulatory submissions. In finance, AI has improved forecasting accuracy to +/-1% versus reality and significantly reduced obsolescence to less than 1%. The company is actively aligning its India systems with the group's modern AI framework, targeting completion by the end of the year.

While exploring opportunities for new launches, particularly in Type 1 diabetes, Sanofi maintains a cautious approach, prioritizing successful market entry and patient affordability. Management noted a high failure rate for new product launches by Indian companies (>50%) and evaluates whether global products are suitable for the Indian market given pricing and access considerations. The immediate focus for the next 1.5 years remains on accelerating Toujeo and Soliqua.