France boasts one of the largest pharmaceutical industries in Europe, underpinned by high domestic consumption of prescription drugs, and backed by a long history of innovative R&D.
The French pharmaceutical sector is lead by the giant Sanofi-Aventis, which, as the name suggests, resulted from the merger of several pharmaceutical companies during the 90’s, most particularly the three French pharma leaders Aventis, Sanofi and Synthelabo. With consolidated turnover in 2005 of €27Bn and more than €4Bn in R&D, the group claims to rank number 1 in Europe and number 3 in the world (www.sanofi-aventis.com).
It focuses on seven major therapeutic areas: cardiovascular, thrombosis, metabolic disorders, oncology, central nervous system, internal medicine and vaccines.Pierre Fabre, Ipsen, and Flame Technologies are the three other major French players in the pharmaceutical industry.
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France Pharmaceutical Industry