Both sides of the coin for Sanofi

Both sides of the coin for Sanofi

Some interesting recent news in France about Sanofi, which use to be called Sanofi-Aventis, came out today. As we have seen in the past, the people in France like to protest. “Workers at Sanofi (SAN) had a message for politicians at protests in Paris this month: Job cuts by the nation’s biggest drugmaker are crushing morale among researchers and hurting the company’s ability to develop new products (http://www.biospace.com/News/genzyme-corporations-rd-culture-pushes-sanofi/267846) .”

I wonder if it is going to have an effect on what happens to the company? The chief Executive Officer Chris Viehbacher was not persuaded by those arguments.  After purchasing Genzyme Corp. for $20.1 billion last year, the CEO was inspired to refashion Sanofi in the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company’s image, a project he is pursuing at full bore. Scientists are now organized as hubs, in the hopes that scientists will be more open and share their ideas with one another. In the new headquarters in Paris, he has had coffee bars installed for workers to mingle.  He chose Genzyme executives to run the Boston R&D hub and Sanofi’s U.S. business development. His daughter is even interning at Genzyme. Sounds like he is keeping it all in the family, huh….

Besides the disgruntled employees in France, the FDA has also brought some charges against Sanofi too that they posted on July 12^th on their website. There appears to be mold problems in several of Sanofi’s plants located both in Canada and France.  The drug TheraCys BCG Live is produced in the Canadian plant and because of these issues has created a shortage of the drug. The FDA has requested renovations at the Canadian plant. (http://www.biospace.com/News/fda-to-meet-sanofi-france-execs-over-violations-at/267717)

What does this mean for the stock, SNYNF:OTCQB?

Overall its performance has been up a little over 7% for the year. It doesn’t appear that any analyst is following the stock? OR at least none that is evident on the Scottrade website. The stock has ranged from 62.30 in September of 2011 to 78.45 in July of 2011. Presently the stock is at 74.05, which is just bobbing below the high for the stock. 

If I was going to take a guess, I would say that the stock is going to go down on the news that I have provided above. However, if some new drugs or advancement comes out of Sanofi, then I think the stock will go up a bit. However, from what I see it doesn’t seem like it is going to go up much higher for now.

Check out the chart and the news, and let me know what you think!?

Alnylam Pharmaecuticals and Ascletis form an agreement

For some amusement, please check out this website link: http://adf.ly/AltA4

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY) and RNAi technology

As I have said in a previous posting, most large biopharmaceutical companies have been focusing on humanizing antibodies.  It is good to find that there are some companies that are looking at RNAi. Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY) is focusing more on  RNAi and lipid nanoparticles. Their technology recently been licensed to Ascletis Pharmaceuticals, a Chinese/American company where the two companies have formed a strategic collaboration to develop ALN-VSP, an RNAi therapeutic for treatment of liver cancer.

On July 12^th, Ascletis announced the formation of an agreement between Alnylam and a Ascletis to develop ALN-VSP, an RNAi Therapeutic for the Treatment of Liver Cancers (http://www.ascletis.com/N07122012.html )

So what do I think of Alnylam, this is an exciting company that has the potential to treat a lot of different diseases and syndromes. It is based in Cambridge MA, which is one of the nuclei of pharmaceutical companies in the US. Using nanoparticles made of lipids provides a way to transfer the interfering RNAs (RNAi) into the cell without triggering the immune system response is the way to go. Avoiding the use of viruses will help it be accepted by the public.

The use of RNAi’s clearly demonstrates that this company is following the most recent literature and an understanding that epigenetic regulation of the cell is an important aspect to understand for treatment of cancers and disease. Their focus on the liver for their drug is understandable, since the liver has a high capacity for taking in lipid based particles into the cell, and the liver has a higher degree of cellular division than most tissues.

The one aspect of this company that makes me cautious to recommend it fully, is that it is not hiring scientists in the US. I agree that collaboration is good, and China has a plethora of people and scientists to collaborate with, but that Alnylam is not hiring and supporting scientists in the US makes me hesitate about fully endorsing this company.

What about the stock itself?  S and P gave it 4 stars. Reuter’s gives it 7/10 in neutral toward the positive and Second Opinion upgraded it about 34 days ago closer to “Improving”. It has had a positive run in the last month; it seems to have a resistance at 13.00. If you wait for a pull back, I think it’s a good bargain. Or if you are going to hold it for long, I recommend this stock. (my 2cents, no I don’t own the stock)

Some extra information below:

From scottrade:

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Alnylam) is a biopharmaceutical company developing therapeutics based on ribonucleic acid interface (RNAi). Its Alnylam 5x15, is focused on the development and commercialization of novel RNAi therapeutics for the treatment of genetically defined diseases. Its core programs in clinical or pre-clinical development are: ALN-TTR for the treatment of transthyretin-mediated amyloidosis (ATTR); ALN-APC for the treatment of hemophilia; ALN-PCS for the treatment of severe hypercholesterolemia; ALN-HPN for the treatment of refractory anemia, and ALN-TMP for the treatment of hemoglobinopathies, including beta-thalassemia and sickle cell anemia. The Company has three partner-based programs in clinical or pre-clinical development, including ALN-RSV01 for the treatment of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), infection, ALN-VSP for the treatment of liver cancers and ALN-HTT for the treatment of Huntington's disease (HD).

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals in the last 3 months, courtesy of Scottrade