Doliprane: why Sanofi wants to get rid of paracetamol

The sky is starting to clear above Opella. While Sanofi seeks to get rid of its non-prescription medicines subsidiary, the French giant recently announced its verdict on the identity of the buyer. “in the coming weeks”. Contacted Monday September 30, the pharmaceutical laboratory ensured the progress of a “transaction no earlier than the fourth quarter of 2024”just two months after communicating about takeover offers.

In detail, two potential buyers made buyout offers last week for the subsidiary which notably produces Doliprane. A first would have been carried out by the French fund PAI Partners, a specialist in buyouts financed by the debt of the sold company, supported by Emirati, Singaporean and Canadian funds. The second proposal would come from the American fund Clayton Dubilier & Rice (CD&R), notably a shareholder of Conforama.

“Sanofi wants to make up for the delay in R&D”

In total, the two promises would be estimated to the tune of 15 billion euros, according to information from the Letter. But a third scenario could nevertheless emerge with the IPO of Opella and the continued participation of Sanofi. “We are keeping all options open, including a listing and sale, to maximize value creation for all our stakeholders”specified the company contacted by Humanity.

But what does the State think? The Élysée and the government are reportedly following this matter closely but, when contacted, the Ministry of Industry did not respond to our questions. The subject is, however, highly symbolic. Emmanuel Macron himself had designated the reconquest of the pharmaceutical field, including paracetamol, the active ingredient in Doliprane, as a strategic sector after the Covid crisis.

Since 2019, Sanofi has worked to make Opella desirable by carrying out reorganizations (dropping out of the parent company; halving the number of sites; tightening production in France, the United States, Japan, Brazil and Hungary). ).

The French laboratory justifies this decision by the need to invest in research to find new vaccines and drugs. “If we want to accelerate this work, we will have to invest massively in research and development (we have already gone from around 5 billion euros per year in 2020 to almost 7 billion in 2023), we therefore plan to increase by 700 million euros per year our R&D budget in the years to come »specifies the group.

An argument far from convincing Fabien Mallet CGT Sanofi coordinator: “If Sanofi separates from Opella, it is only to get money quickly. The company plans to use these funds to make up for the backlog in R&D. However, this delay was organized by a management which oriented everything towards the remuneration of its shareholders, breaking the research tool and abandoning the industrial one. »