French pharma Sanofi: last with its Covid vaccine but top with its lobbying
The Covid-19 vaccine produced by pharmaceutical firm Sanofi has finally been approved by European regulators, well after rival products from its competitors. But while the French fgroup may have been last in getting a vaccine ready to fight the pandemic, it is a different story when it comes to lobbying. As Rozenn Le Saint reports, over the last two years Sanofi has spent more than its rivals in a bid to influence the authorities in Paris and Brussels.
SanofiSanofi came last in the race to produce a vaccine against Covid-19 when on Thursday November 10th its product was the seventh to be approved for use by the European Commission. Yet the French group has come first in one contest - lobbying. Over the last two years it has outspent all its pharmaceutical rivals in its bid to exert influence on French and European public authorities.