Cyamemazine

Pictured: Sanofi's Germany office at night/iStock, Panama7 Sanofi on Monday offloaded 11 brands in its central nervous system portfolio to U.K-based company Pharmanovia, including epilepsy drugs Frisium and Gardenal. The companies did not disclose specific terms of the agreement, but revealed that the medicines span four therapeutic areas—all with ongoing unmet need: psycholeptics, anxiolytics, anti-epileptics and anti-psychotics. Though not all these drugs are approved in every market, they still have “clear synergy” with Pharmanovia’s existing portfolio and will fit well with the company’s “core sub-therapy focuses of mental health and epilepsy, where there continues to be significant unmet need,” CEO James Burt said in a statement. Among the divested drugs are several brands of the benzodiazepine clobazam, including Sentil, Urbanol, Noiafren, Castilium and Frisium. All of these are for the treatment of anxiety in certain patient subgroups; Frisium can also be used as an adjunctive treatment in epilepsy. Sanofi is also offloading epilepsy drug Gardenal and vertigo and nausea medicine Stemetil, as well as Tercian, which is used for the treatment of psychotic conditions and anxiety in patients who had already failed other therapies. Pharmanovia is a global lifecycle management healthcare company that “revitalizes, extends and expands the lifecycle of established medicines,” the company said in its press announcement Monday. It achieves this by rediscovering, repurposing or re-engineering established medicines, leading to better patient outcomes and medical experiences, the company contends. Sanofi’s decision to divest these brands comes as the French pharma group appears to be moving away from its CNS business. In July 2022, it sold two product portfolios to Neuraxpharm. The first portfolio included 15 CNS medicines, while the second consisted of just two assets targeted against pain and vascular diseases. Overall, the 17 molecules spanned 38 brands. As in the Pharmanovia deal, Sanofi and Neuraxpharm did not reveal specific terms of their agreement. A year earlier, in June 2021, Sanofi likewise sold 16 consumer healthcare products to Stada. At the time, the company said the decision was to “reduce the complexity” of its consumer healthcare portfolio and “accelerate its growth trajectory.” While Sanofi has slimmed down its CNS and consumer health businesses, it has also recently beefed up its rare disease and diabetes pipelines. In May 2023, the French drugmaker paid $150 million upfront in an exclusive worldwide licensing agreement with Maze Therapeutics for the latter’s glycogen synthase 1 program and lead candidate, both being evaluated for Pompe disease. In March 2023, Sanofi bought Provention Bio for $2.9 billion, giving it rights over the diabetes delay drug Tzield (teplizumab-mzwv). Tristan Manalac is an independent science writer based in Metro Manila, Philippines. He can be reached at tristan@tristanmanalac.com or tristan.manalac@biospace.com.

The 11 meds included in the deal span the psycholeptic, anxiolytic, anti-epileptic and antipsychotic areas. Amid Sanofi’s multiyear effort to simplify its product portfolio, the drugmaker is offloading 11 central nervous system meds to life cycle management company Pharmanovia. Sanofi is selling drugs that range the psycholeptic, anxiolytic, anti-epileptic and antipsychotic treatment fields. The drugs involved in the deal are Frisium, Sentil, Urbanyl, Urbanil, Urbanol, Urbadan, Noiafren, Castilium, Gardenal, Tercian and Stemetil. As for Pharmanovia, the company "revitalizes, extends and expands” the lifecycle of established medicine brands, it said in a statement. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. For years, Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson has been on a mission to center the company around first-in-class or best-in-class growth drivers. It seems that many of Sanofi’s CNS meds have no place in the focused company, as the company inked a separate divestment of 15 CNS products to Neuraxpharm last year. That deal also included two pain and vascular treatments. The company hasn't only sold of its CNS medicines. In July, Germany's Stada became the new owner of a clutch of former Sanofi consumer health products. That deal followed a similar 2021 sale of Sanofi consumer products. Separately, Sanofi last summer returned exclusive worldwide rights to cancer med Libtayo to partner Regeneron for $900 million.  Meanwhile, Sanofi and Regeneron's superstar immunology drug Dupixent is on a roll. The companies recently presented phase 3 trial data proving the drug’s worth in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, an indication the two will file for next year. In the first half of the year, Dupixent pulled in nearly 4.9 billion euros, a 37% increase from the same period in 2022. Now, Sanofi reached what Hudson calls a “new steady state," during which it will focus on new launches, including hemophilia A treatment Altuviiio and infant RSV antibody Beyfortus.