The heartburn hasn’t even begun
This morning Sanofi (NYSE:SNY) announced they would be buying the Rolaids franchise from Johnson and Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), which seems like an awfully drastic step to take considering they haven’t even bought Bayer’s troubled diabetes device unit yet. Perhaps the executives at Sanofi are just planning ahead as they know about all they are going to get from the Bayer acquisition is heartburn. Although nothing was mentioned beyond the Rolaids acquisition, it might not be a bad idea if they also talked to JNJ about acquiring the Tylenol franchise as well, for as sure as the Bayer acquisition will bring heartburn it will also make for some splitting headaches.
Even without the Bayer acquisition, Sanofi executives will need these over-the-counter medications as their diabetes franchise continues to struggle with how to soften the blow from the coming Lantus patent expiration. Listen when a company starts selling lunch bags and starts thinking about selling lancets and glucose tablets, you just know that they are not just getting very desperate but downright wacky.
The simple fact is Sanofi knows they are in a world of hurt and there really isn’t much they can do about it now. Looked at honestly, which would be a real treat but something seldom done at the corporate headquarters in France, the time to find a Lantus replacement has come and gone. The truth is the strategy they thought would work hasn’t worked and now the deadline is nearly here and all they can do is watch and ponder what might have been.
