French drugmaker Sanofi has completed the divestment of its European generics business Zentiva to Advent International effective September 30. The transaction was finalized ahead of schedule for €1,9 billion (enterprise value). Sanofi announced the beginning of exclusive negotiations with Advent in April of this year and concluded negotiations June 28. The divestiture is part of Sanofi’s strategy to simplify and reshape the company.

In mid-September, Sanofi announced that it will change the organizational structure of two of its global business units (GBU) to provide greater focus on its operations in mature markets and across emerging markets. The company will create a new Primary Care GBU that combines the product portfolios of Sanofi's existing Diabetes and Cardiovascular GBU with established products, which are currently part of the General Medicines & Emerging Markets GBU. The new Primary Care unit will focus exclusively on mature markets.

Sanofi is creating a second new global business unit called China & Emerging. This newly-formed business will focus on the unique characteristics and tremendous growth opportunities in emerging markets, particularly in China, which is Sanofi's second largest market after the United States.

On October 2, Sanofi announced that it is renaming its CEPiA business “Sanofi Active Ingredient Solutions”. The former name CEPiA was short for Commercial & External Partnership, Industrial Affairs. The organization is dedicated to third party activities, specifically the supply of active pharmaceutical ingredients (apis) and intermediates, custom synthesis & api contract manufacturing, and pharma contract manufacturing.

According to the company, in total, more than 50 Sanofi sites are in support of the activities now called Sanofi Active Ingredient Solutions. About 16 chemical & biotech sites located in 6 countries (mainly in Europe) manufacture intermediates and APIs for third party projects. And about 38 pharmaceutical sites located in 25 countries worldwide offer production capacities for third party market.

In an email to customers and partners, Géraldine Gorgol, head of marketing & communications, Sanofi Active Ingredient Solutions, states: “Our new name clearly states that we are part of Sanofi, describes our core activity – active ingredients -, and reflects on our teams’ dedication for working with our customers to find tailored solutions meeting their specific needs.”