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Sanofi-Aventis

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This article is part of the Global corporations portal on SourceWatch.

Sanofi-Aventis is based is a pharmaceutical and biotechnology company based in France. It is Europe's largest drug company.

The name comes from the 2004 merger of two French drug companies, Sanofi-Synthelabo and Aventis. In 2006, it had sales of $38.9 billion and profits of $5.3 billion. Its drugs include allergy medicine Allegra, blood thinners Lovenox and Plavix (which it markets with Bristol-Myers Squibb), cancer drugs Taxotere and Eloxatine, and insomnia drug Ambien.

In the fiscal year ending in December of 2008, Sanofi-Aventis reported 40.6 billion dollars in sales and had 98,213 employees. [1]

Contents

Animal testing

Sanofi-Aventis does animal testing.

Animals by species, numbers & locations (United States)

  • Bridgewater, New Jersey [2]

Numbers of primates being used & held (United States)

  • Bridgewater, New Jersey [3]

Facility information, progress reports & USDA-APHIS reports

For copies of this facility's U.S. Department of Agriculture-Animal Plant Health Inspection (APHIS) reports, other information and links, see also Stop Animal Experimentation Now!: Facility Reports and Information. This site lists each of the 50 states; each state's name links to biomedical research facilities in that state, and to PDF copies of government documents where the facilities must report their animal usage.

Contract testing

Sanofi-Aventis contract tests out to Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS). [4] HLS is the 3rd largest contract research organization (CRO) in the world and the largest animal testing facility in all of Europe. Firms hire CROs to conduct animal toxicity tests for agrochemicals, petrochemicals, household products, pharmaceutical drugs and toxins. HLS has a long history of gross animal welfare violations. See also Huntingdon Life Sciences.

Drug safety issues

H5N1 Influenza virus vaccine

See also H5N1 Influenza Virus Vaccine.

Toxic antibiotic trial

In 2006, an antibiotic from Sanofi-Aventis continued to be used in drug trials with more than 900 children worldwide, even after it was found to cause four times the average rate of acute liver failure in adults. The continued trials of the drug Ketek (Telithromycin) were criticized by a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FD) official and a study consultant.

Initially, Sanofi-Aventis defended the antibiotic as safe when used as directed. [5] However, after a flurry of negative reports, the company announced on June 8, 2006, that it was voluntarily ceasing the Ketek trials involving children. The FDA also ceased recruitment for the study.

The criticism before Sanofi-Aventis' reversal was scathing.

"How does one justify balancing the risk of fatal liver failure against one day less of ear pain?" asked Dr. Rosemary Johann-Liang, of the FDA's Office of Drug Safety, in a memo uncovered by the New York Times. [6]

Duke University infectious disease specialist, Dr. Danny Benjamin called the pediatric trial "hard to support." He also noted that antibiotics are less frequently recommended for pediatric treatment of routine ear infections. [7]

Human rights issues

Scamming the poor

In May 2009, the Sanofi-Aventis-owned subsidiary Aventis Pharmaceutical was fined more than $95 million, "after overcharging US and local health agencies for medications destined for indigent patients" according to U.S. federal prosecutors. Aventis "acknowledged that it violated the False Claims Act by misreporting drug prices for patients in the Medicaid Drug Rebate program for poor patients," reported Agence France-Presse. Aventis "deliberately misquoted the prices, underpaying rebates to Medicaid and overcharging some public health agencies for the medications. The fraud occurred between 1995 and 2000, and concerned the steroid-based anti-inflammatory nasal sprays Azmacort, Nasacort and Nasacort AQ. 'We will continue to be vigilant in investigating and prosecuting those who scam the Medicaid system -- a system that is meant to benefit the poor' said Michael Loucks, acting US Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, in the Justice Department statement. 'When a drug company agrees to be a provider to the Medicaid programs, it agrees to sell its drugs to them at the same price it gives its best customers. We will, as here, pursue those who break their promises.'" [8]

Food safety issues

Global GMOs & herbicide market

The five top biotechnology companies are Monsanto, AstraZeneca, DuPont, Novartis and Aventis. They account for almost 100% of the genetically engineered seed and 60% of the global pesticide market. Thanks to recent acquisitions, they now own 23% of the commercial seed market. In 1999, almost 80% of total global transgenic acreage was planted in GMO (genetically modefied organism) soy, corn, cotton and canola. Until then, farmers could spray herbicides before planting, but not after, as herbicides would kill the intended crop. The other 20% of genetically modified acreage is planted with crops that produce pesticides. Monsanto’s "New Leaf" potato kills potato beetles, but is itself registered as a pesticide with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The five largest biotech companies in the world are also the five largest herbicide companies. GMOs ensure a continuous and ever-expanding market for their agrochemicals. [9]

Under current policy, the government provides large subsidies to farmers to produce grains, in particularly corn and soybeans. Livestock producers use corn and soy as a base for animal feed as they are protein rich and fatten up the animals. They are also cheap (due to government subsidies.) Livestock consumes 47% of the soy and 60% of the corn produced in the US. [10] See also Food and Drug Administration.

Public relations

In February 2007, PR Week reported that Sanofi-Aventis' vaccine business, Sanofi Pasteur, had "awarded business for half its product lines, including its candidate 5-in-1 vaccine Pentacel, to Publicis Public Relations." The contract is "a joint collaboration between Manning Selvage & Lee and Publicis Consultants PR, Publicis' newly rebranded PR offering." The firms will also be promoting "Adacel, the new Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria, acellular pertussis) vaccine for adolescents and adults," added PR Week. [11]

Lobbying

The company spent $5,700,423 for lobbying in the U.S. in 2006. Some of the lobbying firms used were Hogan & Hartson, Parry Romani DeConcini & Symms, Ricchetti Inc, and Ernst & Young. [12]

Political contributions

Sanofi-Aventis gave $125,500 to federal candidates in the 2006 U.S. election through its political action committee - 17% to Democrats, 79% to Republicans, and 4% to other parties. [13]

Personnel

Key executives

Public relations

Selected board members

Contact

French headquarters
174 avenue de France
75013 Paris
France

Phone: (33) 1 5377 4000

Phone (Media): (33) 1 5377 4076

Fax (33) 1 5377 4174

Web address: http://en.sanofi-aventis.com/

U.S. office
55 Corporate Drive
Bridgewater, NJ 08807
USA

Phone: 800-981-2491

Web address: http://www.sanofi-aventis.us/live/us/en

Articles & sources

SourceWatch articles

References

  1. ↑ Company Description: Sanofi-Aventis, Hoovers, accessed January 2009
  2. ↑ Research Facilities: Sanofi Aventis, Bridgewater, New Jersey, Humane Society of the United States, accessed February 2009
  3. ↑ Numbers of Nonhuman Primates at U.S. Research Facilities, HSUS, accessed December 2009
  4. ↑ Inside Customers, SHAC.net, accessed January 2009
  5. ↑ Antibiotic Linked to Liver Problems, AETNA Health News, May 2006
  6. ↑ Gardiner Harris Halt Is Urged for Trials of Antibiotic in Children, New York Times, June 2006
  7. ↑ Comparative Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of Telithromycin Given Once Daily Versus Cefuroxime Axetil Given Twice Daily in Children With Middle Ear Infections, National Institutes of Health, April 2009
  8. ↑ "Aventis to pay $95 million to settle fraud charge," Agence France-Presse, May 28, 2009.
  9. ↑ John Robbins Genetic Engineering, Part I, The Food Revolution, accessed December 2009
  10. ↑ The Issues: Corn and Soy, Sustainable Table, accessed December 2009
  11. ↑ Marc Longpre Sanofi Pasteur taps Publicis to promote half its vaccines, PR Week, February 2007
  12. ↑ Sanofi-Aventis lobbying expenses, Open Secrets.
  13. ↑ 2006 PAC Summary Data, Open Secrets, accessed August 2007.
  14. ↑ Company Description: Sanofi-Aventis, Hoovers, accessed January 2009
  15. ↑ Board of Directors, Sanofi-Aventis, accessed August 2007.

External articles

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