Sanofi Q1 seen up helped by swine flu vaccines

French drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis should post a 3.4 per cent rise in first-quarter business net profit, with acquisitions and swineflu vaccine sales making up for mounting generic competition to some drugs. While most analysts expect Sanofi to reiterate its earnings forecast for 2 to 5 per cent growth in business earnings per share this year, some see room for improvement. Sanofi's earnings guidance is based on constant exchange rates and excluding potential generic competition to bloodthinner Lovenox. Sanofi has said it expects revenues from H1N1 vaccines this year to be similar to the €465m ($622m) it made in 2009 and that the bulk would be booked in the first quarter. Sanofi has been branching out through acquisitions in consumer and animal health to fend off the harmful effect on sales of patent expiries and challenges to blockbuster drugs while doing development deals in diseases like cancer and diabetes to restock its pipeline. Later this year, blockbuster cancer drug Taxotere will lose its patent protection, allowing for generic drug makers to flood the market with their cheaper copies. Sanofi has said it expects to achieve its €2bn savings target for 2013 ahead of time.