Sanofi CEO: No deals? No problem

FiercePharma | By Carly Helfand

Pharma is riding an M&A deal wave like none the industry has ever seen, with companies looking to shed noncore businesses and bulk up in areas they want to focus on. But Sanofi? Not interested, CEO Chris Viehbacher says.

"Unlike everybody else, we feel we've got critical mass in all of our businesses," he told Bloomberg in an interview.

With Big Pharma peers Novartis ($NVS), GlaxoSmithKline ($GSK), Eli Lilly ($LLY), Bayer and Merck ($MRK) racking up a record $139 billion in deals so far this quarter--not to mention the failed $117 billion play Pfizer ($PFE) made for AstraZeneca ($AZN)--Sanofi's ($SNY) name has come up more than once in the melee. But despite reports that it's had its eye on up-for-grabs assets, Viehbacher insists the French company is happy where it is.

As the news service points out, Sanofi this year forecast its first annual profit increase in four years after generics took down high-flyers like blood thinner Plavix. The company expects to ride back to growth on the backs of new multiple sclerosis treatments Aubagio and Lemtrada, and it has a portfolio of rare-disease candidates waiting in the wings thanks to its $20.1 billion Genzyme pickup in 2011.

The top 10 best-selling diabetes drugs of 2013

FiercePharma | Eric Palmer

Everybody knows that diabetes is an epidemic in this country that is costing lives and money. New stats from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) peg at 29.1 million the number of people in the U.S. who have either Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes, with roughly 9 million of those undiagnosed. Most have Type 2 diabetes, which is more prevalent among minorities. On the other hand, a study found that non-Hispanic white children are diagnosed more often with Type 1 diabetes than other groups. And that is just in the U.S. The rest of the world also is developing diabetes at what many see as alarming rates.

Pharma, seeing opportunity, has responded. There are pills as well as injected drugs. Many are incretin mimetics. There are now 12 classes of drugs, including the GLP-1 class drugs like AstraZeneca's  Byetta and Novo Nordisk's  blockbuster Victoza, and DPP-4 inhibitors like Merck's  Januvia, Eli Lilly and Boehringer Ingelheim's Tradjenta/Trajenta and AstraZeneca's Onglyza.