Taking on more water
Sometimes we think Sanofi is like the Titanic a huge ship which many thought unsinkable, only to hit that pesky iceberg and sink to the bottom of the ocean. When we learned yesterday that the U S Patent and Trademark Office had rejected Sanofi’s infringement claims relating to Lantus we thought not just did the Titanic hit the iceberg but it backed up to make sure they hit it twice.
Perhaps the Titanic is the wrong example as the Keystone Cops might be more appropriate considering the company settled an IP lawsuit with Lilly allowing them to launch Basaglar yet decided to sue Mylan over the exact same thing. Let’s see if we’ve got this straight settle with one of your biggest competitors a company experienced in insulin trusted by patients and physicians a company who knows what they are doing in the insulin market but sue a company that has little or no experience in insulin. Yep that’s Sanofi.
What’s even better here is how the company responded to this news per a quote we found in a Reuters article;
“We believe that it is unlikely that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) ruling on the formulation patents will have an impact on Mylan’s timing for a launch of its glargine products,” a Sanofi spokesman said in an emailed statement.
“The PTAB decision alone does not affect the existing 30-month stay and Mylan does not have tentative Food and Drug Administration approval for its products at this time.”
This is classic Sanofi as the barn is burning down and they look at the fire and think gee the flames are very pretty. Now we aren’t sure who said there is no cure for stupid as it has been said by so many but whoever said it definitely was thinking about Sanofi and diabetes.
But just to prove dumb can get even dumber the company has their own biosimilar short-acting insulin to exact their revenge on Lilly and like the firing squad that can’t shot straight they can’t hit a stationary target. This is a layup, a sure thing but in typical Sanofi fashion they are turning gold into sand. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again Sanofi could screw up a winning lottery ticket.
But not content to screw up Lantus then screw up Admelog our Chardonnay guzzling friends really should go for the trifecta and buy out Google from the OnDuo partnership. This will make Google happy, many of the employees at OnDuo happy and give us one of the best Christmas gifts ever. Now we know it would come at a step price as this once ballyhooed partnership was valued at nearly $2 billion but what the heck keep in mind that one thing Sanofi is great at is throwing money down the toilet.
This is a company that spent $30 million on social media and didn’t expect a return on investment. This is a company who thought that way cool lunch bags would help sell more insulin. This is a company that has blown partnerships with AgaMatrix, MannKind and Medtronic. Listen we don’t blame Google for taking Sanofi’s money – hey they ponied up $250 million toward OnDuo – as unlike Sanofi Google does not need to be in diabetes to make money they are doing quite nicely without diabetes.
Given it’s the holiday season and given that Sanofi is the gift that keeps on giving we think its only appropriate that Lilly and Novo Nordisk send Sanofi a huge Christmas gift for not decimating the short-acting insulin market. For allowing Lilly and Novo to continue their duopoly.
Folks we really wish we were making this up but sadly we are not. By as Momma Kliff used to say never underestimate the power of stupidity.
