THE SUPPLY CHAIN INTERVIEW
Sanofi is a truly global company, headquartered in Paris and doing extraordinary work in healthcare. The R & D‐driven, AI‐powered biopharma group focuses on medicines and vaccines, with a core strength in immunology and a growing portfolio in specialty care, vaccines and rare diseases. Collaboration, as you would expect, is key, and makes for a busy life.“ I visit operations personally, from China to Barcelona, Hyderabad, Boston, Seoul, Tokyo and yes, France,” Vanessa says.“ Not for ceremonial inspections, but to understand how teams innovate, where friction exists and what local excellence deserves to be scaled globally. These human connections are what make our global network operate as one coherent system.”
Beyond the numbers Under CEO Paul Hudson’ s‘ Play to Win’ strategy, Sanofi has spent the past several years refocusing on high‐growth, innovation‐led areas, completing the spin‐out and sale of its consumer health arm Opella in 2024-2025 and redeploying proceeds into R & D, business development and shareholder returns. For Vanessa, however, success goes well beyond numbers and mission statements.
“ For me, success in managing a globalscale network isn’ t just about numbers, though they matter,” she continues.“ It’ s about three interconnected dimensions.“ First is operational excellence with purpose-achieving 99 %+ OTIF, optimising inventory while maintaining reliability and enhancing cost-to-serve, all while ensuring no patient goes without their medication because of our supply chain.
“ Second is intelligent resilienceanticipating disruptions before they materialise through digital twins and what-if scenario modelling, building strategic redundancy without waste.
“ Third is sustainable transformation – being environmentally responsible throughout our operations, integrating sustainability into supply chain design and creating economic value while protecting the planet our patients call home. Success is when patients anywhere receive their medications on time, reliably, while we operate efficiently and sustainably.”
Strength in diversity Sanofi’ s modern structure dates back to mergers in the early 2000s. It now generates more than € 40bn( US $ 47bn) in annual sales with a workforce of at least 90,000 people worldwide, positioning it among the world’ s largest pharmaceutical companies.
Its long‐term growth is anchored by Dupixent, a blockbuster immunology drug developed with Regeneron, alongside newer launches such as the hemophilia A therapy Altuviiio and the cancer medicine Ayvakit, which together have significantly contributed to recent double‐digit quarterly sales growth at constant exchange rates.
Sanofi operates within a healthcare industry beset by unprecedented disruption over the past decade.
46 May 2026