Sanofi-Aventis Get past the taste

The sanofi-aventis merger may have initially made investors sick, but was it just bitter medicine? So far, the politically-forced combination of the two French drugs groups looks surprisingly successful. Pharma mergers have a chequered past. Cost cuts can deliver improved earnings, but mergers have not had much luck in delivering improved lab productivity. While it’s too early to judge whether Sanofi will end up producing more blockbuster pills, cost cutting is ahead of schedule. This is importa...