French pharmaceutical company Servier said on Friday that it was giving up on the sale of its generic drugs subsidiary Biogaran at this stage by “ending discussions” with interested investors, confirming information published by L’Usine Nouvelle.
The group “Servier has received expressions of interest from international investors for Biogaran”, but “it has decided to end discussions with the stakeholders concerned” because “these did not meet “all of the criteria” that it had set, according to an internal letter addressed to employees, of which AFP has obtained a copy.
The decision ends months of speculation about the future of the French generic drug leader.
Its hypothetical sale to a foreign group had fueled fears about France’s loss of health sovereignty.
Servier believes that “the proposed value creation” did not appear to it to be “beneficial for the company and its employees, the French and European industrial fabric and, of course, for patients and all pharmacies and partners”.
“In addition, political and regulatory uncertainties have weighed on these expressions of interest,” wrote Servier President Olivier Laureau in this letter.
But Servier is not throwing in the towel for good. “We will be able to initiate new strategic reviews in the future as we regularly do to assess the potential of our activities,” he emphasizes.
Since the rumours of a sale, which have been circulating since the end of 2023, Servier has not officially communicated its intentions regarding its subsidiary Biogaran, launched in 1996 on the generics market, and which has since become the largest generics brand in France.
The generic manufacturer, which has 240 employees, currently carries out half of its production in France, via its forty or so subcontractors who manufacture for it. It sells 320 million boxes there per year.
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