U.S.-traded shares of French drug maker Sanofi-Aventis fell Friday after a rival said it is preparing to start selling a generic version of Sanofi's anti-clotting drug Plavix.
Cimex AG, a unit of Swiss generics maker Schweizerhall, said it has finished an application to German regulators, and seeks approval in all European Union countries. The company said it expects a positive ruling and plans to begin selling the drug later in the second quarter.
In the first quarter, Sanofi-Aventis said European sales of Plavix totaled 461 million ($708.3 million at current exchange rates). That was almost seven percent of the company's European revenue.
Shares fell $2.26, or 5.9 percent, to $36.52 in afternoon trading.
Citi Investment Research analyst Amit Roy said Schweizerhall's version uses a different kind of salt from Sanofi's original _ and as a result, the generic may not violate Sanofi's patents. He added that if the generic goes on sale, it could cut the company's profit by 11 percent in 2012.
Roy said that Plavix has a high profit margin, and the stock's drop on Friday appears to reflect only the possible loss of exclusivity in Germany, where about one-fifth of EU Plavix sales take place. He rates Sanofi stock "Hold."
Sanofi shares trade as ADRs, or American Depositary Receipts, are securities that allow U.S. investors to trade shares of companies based overseas.
Late in the session, The Bank of New York Europe ADR index declined 1.93 points to 177.56.
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