Sanofi to cut 330 jobs in Germany

Sanofi-Aventis is planning to axe 330 jobs in Germany. The move, which is blamed on Germany's 'negative' health policies, follows the recent announcement that the company plans to cut 504 jobs in France to remain competitive in its home market which, it says, is also suffering the impact of government measures.

A spokeswoman for Sanofi Deutschland said 280 jobs would go in sales and marketing in the company's external contract sales force and another 50 at the Frankfurt-Hoechst industrial park where it produces insulin.

The company has been concerned about recent cost-effectiveness decisions and studies involving short-term insulin analogue Apidra (glulisine), Lantus (insulin glargin) and Plavix (clopidogrel). The latest German move to axe reimbursement for obesity treatment Acomplia (rimonabant) was the final straw, the spokeswoman said.

The company had begun working on Acomplia in 1994 and it was introduced only last month. 'Within six weeks, we learnt that it would not be reimbursed,' she said. 'How are we supposed to operate?'

In the past two years, despite repeated critism of the unfavourable conditions for drug manufacturers, Sanofi has created 1,000 new jobs in Germany, bringing its total workforce in the country to 10,000 employees, of which 1,600 are purely involved in r&d. Sanofi Deutschland posted sales in Germany last year of Euro 1.342bn. Sales including exports amounted to €4.5bn. Analysts say more than a quarter of sales in Germany could be affected by the recent decisions.

The Federal Joint Committee of doctors and health insurance fund officials (G-BA) in Germany recently decided to axe reimbursement for Acomplia, focusing in part on the product's efficacy against adiposity and calling it a lifestyle drug. These decisions should be ratified within the next two months by the German Health Ministry. The ceo of Sanofi Deutschland, Heinz-Werner Meier, has threatened legal action over the move.

Reimbursement has been acknowledged in Denmark and is still valid in the UK, where the product is awaiting evaluation by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE). In France, a decision is expected before the end of November.

On insulin analogues like Apidra, the GB-A has ruled that there will be no reimbursement unless prices are changed to match those of human insulin. Although Apidra has only been marketed in Germany since the end of 2004, a readjustment could have serious consequences on international activities because the prices in Germany often serve as a reference in other European countries. Lower prices in Germany than elsewhere would also be favourable to the activities of parallel export companies.