Sanofi-Aventis Lays Off 400 Employees
5 CommentsBy Ed Silverman // April 6th, 2010 // 7:37 am
In response to generic threats on two older meds – the Ambien CR sleeping pill and Aplenzin antidepressant – and declining sales of the Actonel osteoporosis med – the big drugmaker notifed employees that 400 positions, mostly sales reps, are being eliminated. The move is the latest cutback by Sanofi-Aventis, which is grappling with the same patent cliff as rivals.
To cope, Sanofi is outsourcing sales for Aplenzin, which is a not a substantial revenue generator, and restructuring its promotional arrangement with Warner-Chilcott (see this) for Actonel, which notched $264 million in sales and is a declining product (see page 85 here). The bad news – and a source says there will be more – was delivered by way of email from Jerry Durso, Jerry Durso, vp of the specialized therapeutics business unit.
A Message from Jerry Durso: General Therapeutics Portfolio Update
Dear Colleagues,
As you know, the company has established a strategy for the future centered on key therapeutic areas including diabetes, oncology, atrial fibrillation and other platforms for sustainable growth. As we focus our efforts in these areas and we look at adapting our structures to future challenges, we are constantly evaluating the resources we have dedicated to our full portfolio, including those within general therapeutics.
For many brands we need to continue to drive strong results. But we are also reaching the end of the
promotional lifecycle for some of our general therapeutics products, along with facing difficult market conditions with the entrance of generics into the classes in which we compete. In light of these challenges, we have made a series of decisions that will deploy resources to better support our growth strategy.
First, we have decided to restructure our agreement with Warner Chilcott regarding promotion of Actonel in the United States. Effective today, sanofi-aventis will cease sales, marketing, local R&D decisions and distribution of Actonel in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. [Click here to link to our press release]. Some of the sales professionals who have recently promoted Actonel will be offered an opportunity to interview with Warner Chilcott for potential employment with their sales force.
Next, we decided to reduce promotional efforts on two late-stage products, Ambien CR and Nasacort AQ. We will reduce the number of sales professionals promoting these products in order to focus our resources on areas of greatest long-term potential return.
The final result of this evaluation is the decision to outsource Aplenzin promotional activities to a contract organization. This is a strategic response to our reduced presence in the CNS market, including Ambien CR. Last year, sanofi-aventis withdrew the eplivanserin submission dossier in insomnia because of the need for significant further clinical developments and market access constraints. Based on this decision and our overall CNS presence, we have decided to reduce our internal resources dedicated to support Aplenzin.
Even as we decide where to reduce our promotional efforts, we are increasing our presence in the metabolism arena, one of our identified platforms for sustainable growth and area of increasing customer need. Effective May 1, some sales professionals previously promoting products in the general therapeutics portfolio will move into U.S. Diabetes to help drive our Lantus business.
As a result of these collective decisions, about 400 colleagues across the organization will have been notified over the coming days that they will be displaced from sanofi-aventis U.S.
It is never easy to make decisions that will impact the lives of our colleagues. We value the contributions that they have made, particularly recent efforts to maximize our product opportunities under very challenging circumstances. Those who will be leaving the organization will be treated with compassion and will be supported throughout the transition.
I thank all of you for your patience and flexibility during these times of change, and for continuing to focus on our common business priorities. I am committed to providing as much information as possible to the commercial organization, and have asked the Commercial Leadership Team to be available to answer questions and address concerns. For those functions that are directly affected, your leaders will be in contact with you this week. Thank you again for all of your contributions.
Best Regards,
Jerry Durso
Hat tip to Bnet
pharmavet
I worked for the Searle-Sanofi joint venture that developed Ambien, which was initially approved in 1993. At the time, zolpidem was touted as the first non-benzodiazepine sedative-hypnotic, although the abuse potential was not low enough to avoid a Schedule IV classification. During that time, the BZ Halcion was getting some very bad publicity, hence the popularity of Ambien. Subsequent experience has shown that the issues of drug dependence, tolerance, and addiction are just as problematic with Ambien.
The history of development of sedative-hypnotics and anxiolytics is replete with attemps to develop “less addicting” drugs. Thus, the barbiturates were followed by the carbamates, which were followed by the BZ’s, which were followed by the imidazopyridines (e.g. Ambien) and buspirone and its congeners. Except for buspirone (which produced such dysphoric effects as to be intolerable), each attempt has exposed the fallacy of this approach.
Bob Freeman
A coincidence: I was at Searle at the same time and also worked briefly on Ambien (but on the Searle side, not the JV). I share your observation.
Justice in MI
Good to “see” you, Bob. Perhaps you guys can clarify. A colleague of mine asked me what’s the difference between Ambien and Ambien CR (or XR?).
My answer: “seven minutes.” Meaning, that was what I recalled studies suggesting was the actual average increase in sleep time.
About right?
M Helm, MD
During my residency, my wife was an Aventis rep. One year we went to France and upon return she had an urgent voice-mail stating that she was no longer promoting fexofenadine and to schedule her sales training in NJ for zolpidem line extension. Her assessment of the difference was that CR stood for “Continued Revenue.”
JiM you are correct in the functional difference, this is acheived by a 25% higher exposure to the active compound (and metabolites) and a very crude “extended release” approach. Contac’s tiny time release pellets would have made more sense…
My term for these kinds of products – “non-novation.” Sadly prevalent in the drug development pipelines in the last few years.
Pharmavet, over the past 20+ years, I’ve noted that in virtually every instance when the promotional message has been “lower likelihood of abuse/dependence” it is a red flag to watch for abuse/dependence problems which may be even worse than the original compound or formulation. Hard to think of any exceptions to the rule (Buspirone gets an asterisk in my book since it appears to be a different mechanism.)
The Multaq news can not be a good sign that the death of a (few) thousand cuts will end soon for Sanofi-Aventis.
Back in the early 90s, Searle, and a number of other companies in the S-A aggregation were my among my clients at IMS.
pharmavet
Contributing to the demise of Ambien CR is the use of therapeutic substitution of Ambien IR for Ambien CR by the pharmacists at point of purchase in many states. Basically you save about $4.50/dose. It’s common practice for the pharmacist to tell the patient to take 5mg of IR at bedtime, and if you wake up in the middle of the night to take another 5mg to get back to sleep.
Although I worked on Ambien at Searle/Sanofi, I’ve become convinced of its dangers over the years. The reason is that Ambien produces fairly pharmacologic tolerance. That’s why it is not surprising to see so many Ambien overdoses over the years.