Sanofi acquired Genyzme last year after drawn-out negotiations that began with an unsolicited takeover offer by the pharmaceutical giant. Sanofi has eliminated some jobs at Genzyme headquarters in Kendall Square but has added research and manufacturing jobs in the Boston area, keeping its Massachusetts workforce stable at about 4,500 employees.
“One of the things Genzyme did extremely well is they could identify a [drug] target, test it on humans early on, and they knew it was going to be successful,’’ Viehbacher said. “That’s a skill the industry is going to need to have.’’
Sanofi has also begun using its $20.1 billion Genzyme purchase to reorganize its drug-discovery efforts, concentrating more of them at a small number of research and development centers in Cambridge, France, Germany, and China, Viehbacher said.
Tapping into the Boston’s life sciences cluster, Sanofi said yesterday that it will coinvest with the Boston venture capital firm Third Rock Ventures in Warp Drive Bio, of Cambridge, which is developing technology that will allow it to make drugs from microbes found in plant extracts.
Also participating in the $125 million funding round will be Greylock Partners, a venture firm with offices in Silicon Valley and Cambridge.
“Coinvesting with a VC gives you a second opinion,’’ Viehbacher said.
While his Paris-based company will not start its own venture capital arm, as some rival drug makers have, “We’re prepared to take equity positions in start-ups,’’ he said.
Viehbacher said Sanofi’s cost-reduction push is part of a strategy to develop fewer drugs at its own research sites and more in collaboration with other companies and institutions, a strategy employed by other drug makers. Viehbacher said 50 percent of drugs will be developed in collaboration with partners, compared to 30 percent currently.
Sanofi is facing a so-called patent cliff as the patents for several of its best-selling drugs expire this year, enabling competing low-cost generic therapies to enter the market.
As a result, Sanofi is expanding into areas such as biotech drugs, vaccines, consumer health care, and pet and animal medicines to lessen its exposure to traditional chemical-based drugs, Viehbacher said.
Those markets are “fundamentally changing the structure of the company,’’ he said, and now represent two-thirds of Sanofi’s annual business.
“2012 has been one of the years that’s been circled in red at Sanofi,’’ said Viehbacher. “It’s the year of the infamous patent cliff. This is the third patent cliff of my career, and I’m determined to avoid a fourth.’’
Sanofi’s diversification has positioned the company for renewed growth in coming years, Viehbacher said. He projected annual sales growth of 5 percent from 2012 to 2015.
