Edwin Gale, editor in chief of the group’s medical journal Diabetologia, said he told European regulators of the results in early June so they could be prepared for a reaction when the report was announced.
Speculation about negative study results for Lantus fueled a 14 percent drop in Sanofi shares from June 24-26, knocking 8.8 billion euros ($12.3 billion) off the Paris-based company’s market value. The studies were released on June 26 after the close of Paris trading, and the shares rose 1.5 percent on June 29 and 1 percent yesterday.
“The market was falling and there were rumors about papers that we assumed were ours,” Gale, 64, a professor at the University of Bristol in England, said in an interview. “Because we were aware there were leaks, we felt there would be an alarmist, uncontrolled statement coming out in the press, so we did a rush job on it, coming out a week earlier than expected. We’ve never had to do that before.”
Sanofi-Aventis' comments:
Sanofi Chief Executive Officer Chris Viehbacher said June 29 after the close of Paris trading that the research published in Diabetologia, which included two other studies, was of poor quality and had “significant limitations.” The company will convene a panel of experts for advice on how to proceed with a study to address concerns about Lantus, Viehbacher said. Sanofi said its own data show that the drug is safe.
“We’ve had extensive consultations with world opinion leaders in diabetes, in oncology, in epidemiology,” Viehbacher said on a conference call. “There have been major scientific questions posed for over two decades as to the role of insulin and diabetes and obesity and cancer. All of these experts would agree, and have said very clearly, that these four studies published in Diabetologia do not even begin to answer these questions and point out significant limitations of these studies.”
Ten years to build a reputation -- just a few hours to tear it down? Welcome tothe Internet era!
You wonder how much money was made, and by whom, in the time period between the "leaks" and the initial 14% drop in the share price.
Sanofi-Aventis' comments:
Ten years to build a reputation -- just a few hours to tear it down? Welcome tothe Internet era!
You wonder how much money was made, and by whom, in the time period between the "leaks" and the initial 14% drop in the share price.
The full Bloomberg article is here.