The drugmaker held an analyst briefing in Paris, but had little to offer. Although the late-stage pipeline is growing and 31 drugs could be submitted to regulators by 2010, the discussion was a downer. A successor to the Lovenox blood clotter and another for irregular heartbeat show promise but probably won’t be available before 2011. Sanofi stopped testing a new med for Alzheimer’s disease. And a depression drug showed liver side effects.

“We expected good news today, but there is nothing,” Franck Hennin, a fund manager at Richelieu Finance in Paris, which oversees $5 billion including Sanofi shares, tells Bloomberg News. “It’s disappointing. The pipeline has trouble delivering. They need to buy new molecules from biotechnology companies.”

Sanofi has been under pressure ever since an FDA panel in June refused to recommend the drug for weight-loss after links to suicide in overweight patients. The drugmaker then withdrew its application and its shares have fallen 10 percent. Nonetheless, R&D head Marc Cruzel expects to pursue Acomplia for diabetes in 2009. “We are very confident in Acomplia because it’s a unique drug,” he says.

And what else is up his sleeve? Biotech. “We will reinforce in biotech - it’s part of our weakness,” Cluzel says. “In terms of manufacturing, we will try and do it by acquisitions.”