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Sanofi patent deal a tonic for branded drugs

...but I do think it has rebalanced the scales back toward a more sensible footing, so that people don't think that branded pharma is just going to lose every patent they've got."Investors across the European drugs sector took heart from the Plavix news on Wednesday, with GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and AstraZeneca Plc (AZN.L: Quote, Profile, Research) climbing around 2 percent, while Sanofi itself surged nearly 10 percent.Sav Neophytou, a research analyst at stockbroker Seymour Pierce, said the deal was a "significant positive" for the sector and showed branded drug firms were finding ways to deal with generic threats.NOT RISK-FREESanofi and Bristol-Myers are following an increasingly well-trodden path in settling with Canada's Apotex Corp and attempting a similar accommodation with Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd (REDY.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) of India.In the past six months, numerous branded firms have reached similar deals, including Wyeth (WYE.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Cephalon Inc (CEPH.O: Quote, Profile, Research), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Shire Plc (SHP.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and Allergan Inc (AGN.N: Quote, Profile, Research).

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� Reuters 2006.

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Sanofi patent deal a tonic for branded drugs