Genzyme

CAMBRIDGE — Genzyme Corp. said yesterday its drug Synvisc, which treats osteoarthritis of the knee, has been approved in Japan. Genzyme said it received marketing approval from the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare. The Central Social Insurance Medical Council has agreed to cover the drug. Osteoarthritis of the knee affects about 30 million people in Japan, according to Genzyme. Teijin Pharma Ltd. has licensed Synvisc and has exclusive rights to sell the drug in Japan.

English is emerging as the common tongue of the global economy, and companies that fail to adopt an English-only policy could face a competitive disadvantage. So argues Harvard Business School professor Tsedal Neeley in the May issue of the Harvard Business Review . In her article, Neeley notes that such companies as Airbus, Daimler-Chrysler, Fast Retailing, Nokia, Renault, Samsung, and SAP have "mandated" English as their corporate lingua franca. "If you want to surpass your rivals, it's no longer a matter of choice," Neeley writes.

FRAMINGHAM - As workers prepared to transfer an opaque mix of Chinese hamster ovary cells, sugars, and other nutrients from a seed vessel to a giant harvest tank at Genzyme's new manufacturing plant here last week, company executives were celebrating a parallel milestone: recapturing control of the US market for Fabry disease drugs. "I feel like we've turned the corner," said David Meeker, chief executive of Cambridge-based Genzyme, which grappled with production woes before being acquired by French drug maker Sanofi SA one year ago in a $20.1 billion takeover deal.

Feted at Thursday night's Museum of Science gala, its third annual "Science Behind the Stars" soiree honoring achievement in STEM education (science, technology, engineering, math), were Governor Deval Patrick, Lieutenant Governor Tim Murray, and Intel Corp. chair Jane Shaw. The event drew an array of business and tech luminaries, among them ex-Genzyme chief Henri Tremeer, current Genzyme head David Meeker, National Grid president Marcy Reed, BJ's Wholesale Club chief exec Laura Sen, and "Chronicle" reporter-producer Shayna Seymour, who served as emcee.

By Robert Weisman French drugmaker Sanofi SA told employees of Genzyme Corp., the Cambridge company Sanofi acquired in April, that they will have a new reporting structure within the parent company. Sanofi chief executive Christopher A. Viehbachercq said earlier this year that Genzyme will retain its name and remain a standalone biotechnology unit within Sanofi. But in an employee bulletin out today, Sanofi said Genzyme unit will be smaller and include only its personalized genetic health and multiple sclerosis operations Genzyme's current oncology, biosurgery, and renal...

French drug maker Sanofi SA yesterday told employees of Genzyme Corp., the Cambridge company Sanofi acquired in April, that they will have a new reporting structure within the parent company. Sanofi chief executive Christopher A. Viehbacher said earlier this year that Genzyme will retain its name and remain a standalone biotechnology unit within Sanofi. But in an employee bulletin out yesterday, Sanofi said the Genzyme unit will be smaller and include only its personalized genetic health and multiple sclerosis operations.

CAMBRIDGE — Biotech drug maker Genzyme Corp., which agreed yesterday to sell itself to Sanofi-Aventis SA for more than $20 billion in cash, reported a big jump in fourth-quarter net income due to strong revenue growth, lower costs, and gains on divested businesses. Genzyme said sales of its treatments for genetic diseases climbed as it recovered from manufacturing problems, including viral contamination and particles of trash in some of its drugs. Those problems had hurt its sales, constrained supplies, and ratcheted up costs in the fourth quarter of 2009.

NEW YORK — Genzyme Corp. of Cambridge, Mass., yesterday said it expanded a manufacturing deal with Hospira Inc., which will now make seven Genzyme drugs over the next five years. Hospira will handle fill and finish manufacturing services for Genzyme drugs Cerezyme, Fabrazyme, Myozyme, Lumizyme, Thyrogen, Thymoglobulin, and Campath, plus some drug candidates. The deal was disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In late December, the companies reached a similar agreement that covered four drugs.

Genzyme Corp., the Cambridge biotechnology company that was recently acquired by the French drug maker Sanofi SA, has renewed its lease at Cambridge Parkway in Cambridge, said a broker involved in the real estate transaction. The broker is Cassidy Turley FHO, which represented Genzyme in lease negotiations with the building's landlord, Invesco. Lincoln Property Co. represented Invesco. The nine-story building at 55 Cambridge Parkway is located near the Charles River, and Genzyme's lease renewal there is for 82,490 square feet of space, Cassidy Turley FHO said.

Drawing on its new parent company's resources, Genzyme Corp. plans to grow over time in Massachusetts and increasingly apply its business model to drugs that serve larger patient populations, its new chief executive said yesterday. Genzyme, formerly the largest biotechnology company based in the state, was sold in April to the French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi SA. The $20.1 billion deal set off alarms at Genzyme's Cambridge headquarters about its future in Massachusetts. Genzyme pioneered a system for developing drugs that treat rare genetic disorders, such as the enzyme...

Sanofi, which bought Cambridge-based Genzyme Corp. last year, is seeking new treatments to expand its multiple sclerosis business. The Paris-based drug maker said its experimental medicine Lemtrada, which it gained from Genzyme, improved disability scores in patients suffering from multiple sclerosis, compared with an older treatment, in a late-stage trial. The company has another experimental MS therapy, Aubagio, which was under development before the Genzyme purchase. Beyond Lemtrada and Aubagio, Sanofi has other experimental MS compounds in its pipeline, Panzara said.

Metabolix Inc., a Cambridge biotechnology company that makes biodegradable plastics and chemicals, announced Wednesday the opening of its first office in Europe. The office is located in a life sciences park in Cologne, Germany, Metabolix said in a press release; the office marks the company's first expansion outside of the United States. Metabolix neighbors in the Cologne park include Bayer HealthCare and Sanofi SA, the French drug maker that recently bought Genzyme Corp.

FRAMINGHAM - As workers prepared to transfer an opaque mix of Chinese hamster ovary cells, sugars, and other nutrients from a seed vessel to a giant harvest tank at Genzyme's new manufacturing plant here last week, company executives were celebrating a parallel milestone: recapturing control of the US market for Fabry disease drugs. "I feel like we've turned the corner," said David Meeker, chief executive of Cambridge-based Genzyme, which grappled with production woes before being acquired by French drug maker Sanofi SA one year ago in a $20.1 billion takeover deal.

Location: Framingham Employees: 370 Size: 57,000 square feet on three levels What's inside: Four 2,000-liter bioreactors What's made there: Fabrazyme, a drug to treat the genetic disorder Fabry disease

An experimental drug from Sanofi and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. lowered patients' so-called bad cholesterol by as much as 72 percent on top of Lipitor in a company-funded study. (Last year, French drug maker Sanofi bought Genzyme Corp. of Cambridge for $20.1 billion.) The medicine, one in a class of drugs targeting the PCSK9 gene, reduced patients' average LDL cholesterol levels to as little as 34 milligrams per deciliter after 12 weeks in the mid- stage study, presented today at the American College of Cardiology meeting in Chicago.

Genzyme Corp., the Cambridge biotechnology company that was recently acquired by the French drug maker Sanofi SA, has renewed its lease at Cambridge Parkway in Cambridge, said a broker involved in the real estate transaction. The broker is Cassidy Turley FHO, which represented Genzyme in lease negotiations with the building's landlord, Invesco. Lincoln Property Co. represented Invesco. The nine-story building at 55 Cambridge Parkway is located near the Charles River, and Genzyme's lease renewal there is for 82,490 square feet of space, Cassidy Turley FHO said.

Sanofi SA's Genzyme unit will delay shipments from October through January of its top-selling drug, Cerezyme, which treats Gaucher disease, a rare genetic disorder, the company said. Patients who typically receive a dose of the medicine twice a month will move to once-monthly dosing while Genzyme bolsters supplies, said Lori Gorski, a spokeswoman for the Cambridge-based unit. The National Gaucher Foundation published a letter from Genzyme on its website announcing the delays in shipments of the drug.

CAMBRIDGE — Biotech drug maker Genzyme Corp. said yesterday that talks between its financial advisers and those of suitor Sanofi-Aventis SA have expanded to include representatives from both companies. The company said the talks focus on potential terms for a deal and include ways to value its experimental multiple sclerosis drug alemtuzumab. Genzyme cautioned in a statement that it can offer no assurance that the talks will continue or lead to a deal. Paris-based Sanofi, the world’s fourth-largest drug maker, said in a separate statement on Sunday that...

Sanofi SA, the French drugmaker that bought Genzyme Corp. of Cambridge, said Friday that it has agreed to buy Pluromed Inc., a medical device company based in Woburn. Financial details of the agreement were not included in Sanofi's press release. "The acquisition of Pluromed underscores Sanofi's commitment to strengthen its biosurgery portfolio," Alison Lawton, senior vice president and general manager of Sanofi's biosurgery unit, said in a statement. Pluromed makes a product called LeGoo, a gel used during vascular and cardiovascular surgicial procedures.