By Bhanvi Satija
LONDON, Oct 30 (Reuters) - French drugmaker Sanofi said on Friday it expects sales to grow by a "low-teens percentage" this year, up from a previous forecast of 10% sales growth, banking on strong demand for its blockbuster asthma drug Dupixent.
Sanofi also said that it now expects business operating income per share by a "mid-teens percentage". Previously, the company expected business operating income to grow slightly faster than sales.
New CEO Belen Garijo, who took over the top
role at Sanofi in May and is leading a strategic review of the company, has promised investors faster decision-making. Several analysts believe M&A is needed to bring in new experimental drugs ahead of 2027, when most of its key late-stage data is expected.
CFO François Roger said on a call with journalists that the company is considering deals larger than the €2 billion to €5 billion range that it has historically done.
"We increase our interest for late-stage assets, phase three and potentially commercial assets," he said.
Roger added that the company is looking at areas of strength such as rare diseases, vaccines and immunology.
"We could consider potentially what we call white spaces or moonshots with unmet medical needs," he added.
Some analysts estimate that the company has about €20 billion in deal-making firepower.
The French drugmaker reported third-quarter business operating income of €5.43 billion, compared with market expectations of €4.32 billion, according to a company-provided analysts' consensus.
(Reporting by Bhanvi Satija in London; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
