Sanofi SA (SNY) 2004 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to today's Sanofi-Synthelabo 2004 Half Year results conference call. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand you over to your host today, Mr. [Philippe Gruppe]. Please go ahead sir

Okay. Good day everybody and welcome to this conference call of sanofi-aventis. We are pleased to be with you today. The state of the [Inaudible - line problem] has been quite dense in the recent days, we have decided to split this call in four parts. First presentation and a Q&A session. First of all, Jean-Claude Leroy, Sanofi's Head of Finance, will comment on the first half results released this morning.

Then Gerard Le Fur, Executive Vice President, Scientific Affairs, will present and comment on the one year trial of RIO-Europe, one of the two US studies of Acomplia in Obesity. And to conclude, Jean-Claude will make an update and give you the status of the integration process of sanofi-aventis.

After the presentation, there will be a valuable chance to ask your questions for about 45 minutes, together with Marie-Helen Laimay and Hanspeter Spek, Executive Vice President of Operation of sanofi-aventis, who is in this room and available to answer any question on operation.

We would like to remind you that the all slides of the three presentations made today are available on our world website. And now, Jean-Claude.

Good afternoon and good morning to our US friends today for this first half year result, and an update on the integration status of the new sanofi-aventis Group. It is a real pleasure for me to begin with the half year results of what I would call the ex Sanofi-Synthelabo. Remember, we changed our name, as you know, on August 20, the occasion of the settlement of the offer for Aventis. Today I will begin with the half year result of Sanofi-Synthelabo.

I would drive you directly to slide number 9, so that we may begin with the P&L description and comment. Sales - we have already had a conference call about-- detailed one about the sales. That's right, the P&L side of the sales discussion. What we have to focus on is consolidated sales growth on a comparable basis, close to 19%, and the reconciliation to the refocused basis which is a growth by more than 14%.

As you can see, this is a little bit of a 4% difference, which is mainly due to the US/euro-- US dollar/euro evolution. And I have to just to give you the figures which I'm sure you all know, the average dollar/euro conversion rate for the first half of 2004 has been $1.23, where it was $1.10 for the first half of 2003. Obviously, I should also recall that was sales based plus 25.5%, just because it is a driver of the bottom line. And I will be back on that later on in the P&L evolution description.

Next slide, the gross profit. Once again, the gross profit ratio to the sales is increasing. We are receiving an 82.1% which is a progression, a growth by 1.3 percentage points, due not only to the product mix and productivity improvement, but also, as you know, also in the increase of Plavix and Avapro US royalties you know that those products encounter. As far as Plavix is concerned, around 50% of increasing the sales in the US for the first half, while it was over 20% as far as Avapro was concerned during this first half. On a constant exchange 2003 basis, this gross profit ratio would have been 82.4%. Again, a growth by 1.6 percentage points.

If you we go down to the operating profit, several comments. Firstly, R&D. As you can see, we've increased our expenditure on expenses by 13.4%. 16.6% on a 2003 exchange rate basis. That does represent 15.8% of the sales that we did last year. Again, the main program of this 3% growth cycle, management are the main reasons of this increase. But, also we have to mention the financing of 100% of the development cost of Arixtra, idraparinux and other oligosaccharides.

You will remember that in the past, among our alliance with [Organon] we were financing on a 50-50 basis. We buy-- bought back the rights from Organon at the beginning of this year, so that the first half has encountered 100% of the development cost of these molecules.

Selling and general expenses, plus 12.6% and 17.4% on a constant 2003 exchange rate. I guess that's the main item, the most important is sales and marketing, plus 14.7%, which is to be compared to the sales growth on a reported basis quite comparable. What we did, obviously, is to-- I'd say a while doing this operation, go on supporting our products, our main products - not only in the States but also in Europe.

Other operating income and charges. You know very well about the competence of these line items. This is mainly the BMS alliance line item which is how much we got from-- as the operation which are driven by BMS in the States. And to the contrary, what we give back to BMS as far as the European and rest of world alliance, on Plavix and Avapro. Both of them are showing an increase, and this is supported by the base of development of the sales of these products, not only in the States but also Europe, at very important growth rates.

I should have, before going to the next pages, focused on the fact that this gives up an operating profit which is close to 25%, when compared to the sales level and also which is to be noted. This is a 35% increase on a constant 2003 exchange rate which, I guess, is quite a performance.

When you will look at that operating profit spread out on a geographical basis, there is actually not much to be noted when we look at that, as compared to the end of 2003 because the balance between the three main areas is quite the same. 45% is exactly what it was at the end of 2003, and the rest is not very different.

You've seen that, and you can see on the chart, that it does account for an increase of 30% in the US but, unfortunately, we've talked about the devolution of the dollar against euro. And those two balanced, show that we are still, or we are, and I guess that is what is the most important thing, US, the US do represent 45% of our operating profit.

If we go down now to the bottom line, a few items to be mentioned. Financial income - a slight decrease as compared in the profit, as compared to last year, and you have on the chart the main explanation. I would say that there is not much to say, except that this year again, or this first half of the year, that the hedging of the dollar, devolution of dollar versus euro has been a positive one as it was in the past and last year, as you can see on the chart. The rest are not significant items. I'm ready to answer any questions on these items.

Income taxes - 34% of income tax rate as we-- and for the full year 2003, and as it was mentioned earlier in the year by Marie-Helene Laimay, when she gave indication on this line item.

That drive us to a net result of €1,136m which, I guess, is not a bad performance. This is 25.5% of sales and I know that in the pharmaceutical business this is something which is worth mentioning. Another way to look at it is to look at the growth as compared to last year, on a 2003 constant exchange rate basis. This is over 30%. So, again, I guess that this is a performance worth mentioning.

At the EPS level, now this drives us to a €1.63 share for the first half - a 21.6% increase. And this is the same if we look at it before exceptional items and goodwill amortization, or-- but on bottom line basis. At this stage I would make a comment, as compared to the guidance which was given for the full year. I recall that we have never given any guidance for half year but nonetheless.

I said earlier that the average exchange rate dollar/euro is $1.23. You remember that the 3-year guidance was given on a $1.25 guidance. So this would be equivalent, if I were to say that first half is just about one half of the year as a trend. That our performance should have been at this 16%. We're showing 21.6%. I would make two comments on that.

The first one is related to the inventory of the main products, and I'm talking about Plavix and Avapro which are managed by BMS. The inventory situation, you may remember, that the beginning of 2003 there was a rather sharp dropdown in inventory levels by BMS. So that when we make the comparison between first half 2003 and first half 2004, I guess that there is something which is favorable to us due to that factor.

If I were to reverse the vision and to say it the other way around, you know that we've reached now a level of inventory in the US, which in the average is close to half a month of inventory. And it is fair to say that this level shouldn't be-- shouldn't go very far below now. So that for the rest of the year we should not be any impact, or I would say negative impact, of any further major dropdown in inventory level.

So that first half is a real good performance and the second half shouldn't be very bad, from this picture. We will come back on that later, especially if you have questions. I will now pass to--. Well, just a few comments on the slides to come.

I won't make a detailed comment on the P&L, on the consolidated statements of cash flows and then the balance sheet, which are shown from page 15 to 19. The only comments I would make as a summary and, again, ready for answering any question afterwards, is to point out that net cash position, which we reached as of end of June 2004. You've maybe seen that this is a positive one by €2.9b which includes, by the way, close to €600m of shares held for stock option plans.

So we're talking of a net net of €2.3b, which is exactly close to the same situation we had at the end of 2003. I will stop there on the first half 2004 comments, again with a certain degree of, I guess, satisfaction of this level. Which I guess is pretty much a good one and especially compared to the competition, and I will pass now to Gerard Le Fur, who is going to talk to us about-- news about rimonabant.

Hello everybody. Over the next couple of minutes I will present to you the combined studies of RIO-Europe and one year [inter analogies] on RIO-Lipids. As you know, we set up a very large clinical trial, since there are three with this compound. Here you have the study design of RIO-Europe. As you know, it's a double-blind, placebo-controlled study, where we compare placebo to 5mg, or 20mg once a day en route, by Acomplia in obese patients, in patients with BMI over 30, or patients with BMI over 27 with co-morbidity hypertension and/or dyslipidemia. As you can see here, the mean body weight is about 100kg, and the BMI is close to 37. In fact, all the patients receive a mild hypocaloric diet, and as you can see here, we compare roughly 300 patients under placebo to 600 patients in each group of Acomplia. And here we present the data after one year treatment.

You all know that following the guidelines of the FDA, we have two Phase III studies with 2 years follow-up in these patients. So just to remind you the protocol of the study design of RIO-Lipids. It's roughly the same protocol except that we only have one year treatment. We compare roughly a little bit more than 300 patients in each group to two doses of Acomplia - 5mg, 20mg.

And here the patients were-- all these patients with BMI above 27 and with untreated dyslipidemia. As you can see, the mean body weight is a little bit less than 100kg and the mean BMI is of-- is 34. So, first results on the metabolic syndrome. As you know, metabolic syndrome is right now well-defined. It's according to the ATPIII definition, at least 3 among these criteria - abdominal obesity, hypertension, hypertriglyceridemia, low HDL cholesterol or abnormal fasting glucose.

And as you can see here, after one year treatment, there's roughly a 50% decrease of patients who suffer from metabolic syndrome, after one year treatment of 20mg of Acomplia. And as you can see here, and it's what will happen in all the parameters we had, a very reproducible effect, if you compare to it the RIO-Lipids and the results we got with RIO-Europe. Next slide please.

One more time you have the comparison of the body weight. You have roughly the same decrease of body weight in both studies, with a significant effect at 5mg. But, for sure, a much better effect at 20mg, which is very significant. Next slide.

One more time this is very reproducible, if we consider the weight circumference with a very significant effect at 20mg, and more or less significant effect at 5mg. This big effect, this very large effect on waist circumference, indicates that this compound is much more active on visceral fat. And you all know that visceral fat is certainly the cause of some of the cardiovascular risks.

So, in the next slide let's talk about the Lipidimic parameters. You know that the compound has no effect on total cholesterol. It's not a statin. It's more a cumulative effect on the LDL. As you know, that's represented a positive effect on the LDL in the RIO-Lipid activity. But here you have a very reproducible effect on the increase of the HDL cholesterol induced by 20mg of Acomplia.

And one more time, a significant effect, or close to significant effect, even at 5mg. And keep in mind that part of this effect was [indiscernible] on body or the decrease in body weight of roughly 50% is indicative of the decrease in body weight direct induced by Acomplia. In the continued direct effect of this compound really on-- through [indiscernible] on these parameters

In the next slide, you will see that the compound is also very active on triglycerides, with roughly the same decrease if you compare the [indiscernible] placebo. The decrease of this placebo both in RIO-Europe and RIO-Lipids. It was only significant at 20mg. One more time, half of the effect is indicative of the decrease of body weight induced by Acomplia.

A few words about these glycermic parameters. It is well-known that most obese patients suffer from insulin resistance. In order to measure the insulin resistance, we use two parameters - fasting insulin. This correspond to this slide. And in the next slide, I will present the results after OGTT test, our glucose tolerance test.

And as you can see here, one more time, if you compare the effect versus placebo of RIO-Europe and RIO-Lipids, we got roughly the same significant effect induced by 20mg of Acomplia. As you can see it's 2.8µlU/ml in the RIO-Europe and 2.6µlU/ml decrease in RIO-Lipids. One more time, a similar effect on this parameter. And in the next slide you can see that we roughly got the same sensitivity, or the same effect, on all glucose tests-- on all glucose tolerance tests.

That is to say, that we administer glucose by oral route to these patients, to some of these patients, and we measure the effect on the insulin level. And as you can see, we got a significant effect in both case. A little bit more in RIO-Lipid because it's well-known that in this population we have more pre-diabetic patients than in RIO-Europe. But this remains bottom line that it was very significant in both studies.

So, a few words about the side effects. Here we presented to you the discontinuation rate in both studies. You have in blue the placebo group and in red the Acomplia 20mg. As you can see here, after one year treatment, we had even a little bit less discontinuation rate under 20mg Acomplia than under placebo.

However, the curves are a little bit different. At the very beginning we have higher discontinuation rate under Acomplia 20mg, due to some side effect that you know which are mild and transient, and which are mainly GI disorders. But as a function of time, as you can see here, there's roughly no difference, or a small difference, in favor of Acomplia, if we consider this continuation rate as the parameters.

So, here you have the combine, overall summary of the treatment and adverse events induced by Acomplia and placebo. As you can see here, if we consider all the adverse events, it's 82.2% in the placebo group and 86.7% in 20mg Acomplia. Again, we combine both study one year treatment. What is even more important concerning the so-called serious adverse events, it's 4-- 5% in the placebo group and 6.7% in the Acomplia 20mg group.

Concerning the subject discontinued due to adverse events, as you know it's roughly 8% in the placebo group and 14.8% in Acomplia group, in 20mg Acomplia group. And, in fact, what are these adverse events? Here you have the 10 most frequently reported adverse events induced by Acomplia, and as you can see here, it's mainly GI disorders.

You can see nausea - 3.7% under placebo, 12.5% under Acomplia. Diarrhea - 3.2% 3.2% placebo group, 7.1% 20mg Acomplia. Both side effects were mild and transient. And we got also some so-called CNS effect, such as dizziness - 5.7% in the placebo group and 9.2% in Acomplia 20mg group

So, in conclusion, and as you can see, you already knew that Acomplia is a compound with a very new mechanism of action, [indiscernible] of the so-called central [indiscernible] ratio [CB1 receptor]. That this compound has a unique mechanism of action but also a unique profile. This compound for sure decreased body weight in obese patients but is very active also on the [epidemic] and glycermic parameters.

So for all these reasons, we strongly believe that such a compound might be very useful, in order to protect patients with cardiovascular risk in this area. And I will stop right now, if you don't mind, and Jean-Claude Leroy will conclude the session.

Thank you Gerard. After good half year results, very promising result again on Acomplia, and we will go on and achieve integration. But first a few information on the status of the offer which again I guess has not showed such bad result.

If you go on page 33, I won't go through any line items. Just remind you that, apart from the offer or the consequence of the offer, we had also 2 mandatory offers, which we have to make. The first one is on 20% of the share capital of the Aventis Pharma Limited India subsidiary. This is requested by law in India. This has been announced and the process will be going on up until November.

Just to give you information, this is an investment of around €60m which is at stake. Then, and I'd say essentially, the results of the first round of the offer - 95.52% voting rights, 95.47% of the share capital. It's fair to say that this is a very positive result. We have re-opened this offer right away and for a period which is going to end up on October 6, under the same condition. Again, and be back afterwards.

So that the main event is the creation of sanofi-aventis on 20 August which is the day of the settlement of the offer. And you have underneath how we did finance the cash consideration of the settlement of the first offer. I guess that's the main important thing to comment here, is that we did utilize the tranche A and tranche B of the $16b credit facility we signed for this acquisition, which in turn means that on the tranche C for €5.5b. We didn't utilize anything. So far everything is available for, as I said, the re-opening of the offer as well as any need for further refinancing of the new group.

Hoechst AG - now I have a few comments to make. First, we are talking of a mandatory offer again. Under German law, because of the particular situation of Hoechst inside the Aventis Group, which is a holding by 98.1% we have-- and we have a mandatory offer to make. We have announced that we are going to do it obviously. We think that with our recent deal, August 23, and this is going to be an ongoing process for Q3 and Q4.

At the same time Aventis announced its intention to acquire the share of the outstanding shareholder of Hoechst AG. Why? And a so-called intention of operation in two parts. Just because of the fact that everybody knows that in Germany with a mandatory offer, you don't come out to buy 100% of the remaining shares. So that we decided that for the best clarity of the market, we had to announce our intention to gather 100% of the shares, which are on the market for Hoechst AG, and why? Just because we feel that we have to simplify the legal structures of the new group as soon as practicable. So this first operation would help us to have, I'd say, a more simplified situation as far as the German legal structure is concerned.

In addition to that, and important to the same goal, an important-- other important operation, we've announced this morning the second part. This is the merger of the two mother companies. So this is going to be a merger [indiscernible], as we say in French, of Aventis, let us say, by sanofi-aventis. And we announced that intention so that we can put ourselves in a situation to come up to this actual merger by the end of this year, 2004. Always with the same goal to go fast to simplify the legal structure, and we have, I'd say, some-- decided to work on a parity basis, which is exactly the same as the one we retained for the general offer. Just because for us it is a follow-up of this offer. So we didn't see any reason to offer something which is different from the exchange ratio which has been reclaimed on the share portion of the offer.

Then we decided to do that also right away, so that the Aventis shareholders who have [indiscernible], will have still the choice to determine themselves before the end of the re-opened offer which is-- I mean up to the September 6 either to bring to the opened offer or to keep their shares and bring them in this merger.

Then exploration of the re-opened offer. Just to say that by the end of September, everything is going to be done in that respect, and the dividend is going to be paid to both the ex-Aventis shareholders, plus all the remaining €0.05 a share to the ex-Sanofi-Synthelabo shareholders.

I want now to give you a few information about the integration process. You all know the announcement of the future Management Committee, the establishment of Integration Committee before integration period. Yesterday there was the first meeting of the sanofi-aventis Board of Directors but this is not all.

When we are saying that during the months of September, with the implement of the new organization structure, there is a few more things to say. For example, the new General Managers of the-- all the countries around the world - I'm talking about more than 90 new General Managers - will be appointed this week.

And, in addition to that, they will have to determine and designate their Management Committee before the end of September. I mean by that, their people in charge of commercial operations, their people in charge of the Human Resources, their people in charge of Finance.

So that we are determined to put the new group in function as of-- as early as the beginning of October because we want to go on proceeding as quick, as fast as possible. To put the new Group, the 2005 situation, as clear as possible. In that respect that's the reason for which, by designating these people this month, will enable us to work out a budget preparation for 2005, for the new-- for the 3 months to come before, yes it's 3-4 months, before year end. So that we will have put the new Group in a situation to start 2005 with new indicators, new growth, and everything in a situation to achieve our goals in these area of 2005.

Next, we said, yes, we do confirm that this deal will be accretive from 2005, based on sanofi-aventis pro forma net adjusted income per share. I'm ready to answer any question if there is any need for precision in that respect. This is important to us to remind everybody that this deal is going to be accretive, in this year. By that we do confirm also that the synergies which were proposed to you some months earlier - €1.6b before tax - are going to be made, and in the agenda we commented upon.

There is still some this year and an additional 50% next year, and the rest in 2006. And I want to spend a few minutes with you on the last line which is the 2005 guidance for the new Group. It is here written that February 2005 is going to be the time where we're going to have the new analyst meeting and provide the community with the 2005 guidance.

I'm sure that you are all happy with that but that is not all. I am sure that you were expecting something more, you're waiting for something as far as 2004, the new group, the combined figures are concerned. In that respect, I think it is important for me to try to be transparent with you, and I'm going to tell exactly to you what we're going to give, what we're not going to give, and in such case why.

First, well I have to remind you that it is important in that consideration that we gain access to Aventis's internal information at the settlement of the offer. I'm just talking about August 20, 10 days ago. Because of the way we structured the operation, there was no way to exchange nothing on an internal basis before that date. So I'm sure that you will understand that from that perspective it's a bit difficult to be very clever on a very precise basis, on something we had not had the opportunity to look at.

I am not negative and I will elaborate on this one but just for facts, I wanted to remember that, which is not exactly the case of our [indiscernible] in other operation between other groups. In addition to that, what we have to do now? We have to prepare the opening balance sheets which is, at least, one of the item which is important to determine the new accounts and the new sets of accounts for the new group. That begins the evaluation process.

This is to be prepared by an independent expert. All of you know that it does take time, at least 3 months, not much more but let us say 3 months. That's something where-- which we're going to begin in-- some time in September, so that we won't get definitive figures before the end of the year in that respect.

In addition to that, I just gave you a word on the budget process for 2005. As well, and saying 2005, it's also true for year end 2004. What we're going to do is to work out the budget process to be prepared for 2005. In turn, we won't dedicate much time to do that before, just because it takes time to have, again, a process. I'm not saying that we don't know exactly where the Aventis Group is or where, or it is going to be. I'm just saying that very precise figures is something we have not had, as yet, the opportunity to go inside.

I was saying that we're going to have, so far with-- through this process an operational view of 2005, and remember that we said that we would give you that guidance for 2005 in February. This is the customary date for aventis-sanofi to give information. That won't give us much time to give you this guidance but we will give it to you for 2005.

By the way, again we won't give any guidance for the rest of the year. I know that you would have expected us to be more precise. We have not had a tradition of giving figures without doing first our homework, and not to be too much of a promise figure. I know that you all know Sanofi-Synthelabo in that respect. I'm convinced that you would not be that comfortable if we were to change our practices today.

Nevertheless, let's be a bit positive. There will be the sales figures of Q3. What are we're going to do? We're going build out the Q3 sales on a comparable basis for the new group, and we will give you all the information as related to the products. And everybody knows that when you get a good overview of the sales figures, it's already a little bit easier to figure out what could be the bottom line and the bottom line trend.

We will make a conference call at this occasion and, obviously, we will also give you an update on the integration process. So I hope that this doesn't disappoint you too much. I'm talking about the 2004 forecast. We are putting ourselves in a situation to achieve what we said we would do. Be sure that we are confident in doing it, in preparing it and I hope you are going to follow us. We have promised a certain number of things. We will deliver them in due time. In the meantime we need a little bit time to work out all the premises to come up to that in detail. Thank you much on that and I guess that now we are ready to answer your questions.

Okay. Thank you, Jean-Claude, and now the first question?

Thank you. [Operator's Instructions] And we will take our first question from Steve Schofield of [Surridge] Fund Management.

Hi. In the back-end merger that you're contemplating, for the Aventis shares, just wanted to know if the shares you receive, does it come with or without the $1.02 dividend?

If you're talking of the share we intend to gather throughout the merger, this new Aventis share, which would be created to remunerate this Aventis share, would be created with a right to a dividend on the 2004 result. So not exactly the same situation as it was for the operation which was conducted before. Reason for which, as the exchange ratio is €1.1739 and not €1.16.

I'm talking about the back-end merger not the second offer but the--

That was my answer. My answer was on the merger. We contemplate, we are studying. It's not on the second offer or the re-open offer, which is made exactly at the same terms and conditions than the first offer.

So it's the same terms. You would still get the €1.02 dividend? You would get the--

The offer, which is still open up until September 6, is made exactly under the same term and condition as the first one, which means general ratio of 28% of cash and 72% of share, again, generally. And the same situation as far as the dividend is concerned, which means in turn that at the end of the offer, these people, these shareholders would bring-- would get Sanofi - the ex-Sanofi-Synthelabo dividend - the $1.02 per share, at the end of September.

And that would be the same for the back-end that you're contemplating, that you're studying?

No, sorry. That would be a bit different but would come in the end to the same.

But you would not get the $1.02 dividend with those Sanofi shares that you would receive in the case that you're studying?

No, because it is not possible to pay a normal dividend after September 30 under the French law, in any given year. That the reason for which instead of utilizing the exchange ratio of €1.16 - which is the one which is actually used for that re-open offer or which was used for this first offer. We're going to use the ratio before adjustment for dividend.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. And we move to Raymond James of [Eric Leburgot LMG].

Yes, good afternoon. First question on finance. Could you make it clear again what you told about the guidance for the standalone Sanofi-Synthelabo, please? In the 21.6% increase you get in EPS for the first half, did you say that you would have increased your guidance for the full year? Or given to a different comparison basis between first half and second half, that you would have kept it unchanged? That the first question.

The other one relates to Acomplia. First of all, on the efficacy safety date, they're pretty comparable data between RIO-Europe and RIO-Lipids, except perhaps for serious adverse events. In RIO-Lipids we get 4% and, if we put together RIO-Europe and RIO-Lipids, we get 6.7%, which implies something around 9% serious adverse event for RIO-Europe. If you can please elaborate on the difference, which also apply to the placebo group but just in the way it may come from?

Second question on the weight-- the metabolization route for the drug. Could we get some data about that, and whether you made some further analysis and get some data in either of the two studies in patients taking, for instance, hypertensive drugs or statins? And thirdly, drug interactions in there?

And final question. It may seem clear but could you confirm that there is no future for the 5mg form, or do you have any plan to consider 5mg as an option for any kind of patients? Thank you.

Okay. I will begin but on Acomplia, Gerard will do it better than me, but on the guidance. What we did say is that the first half fully supports the yearly guidance. You may feel a little bit worried or feel that we could do better. Remember what I said at the conclusion on the first half year results. On a comparison basis, we said we did benefit a little bit from the comparison with the first half of 2003 because there was that sharp reduction in inventory with BMS and Plavix and Avapro, in the first half of 2003.

Again, and to the contrary, I mentioned that as starting from around one half of the month of inventory that June 31, we should not encounter a sharp reduction again. Well let's be clear, we are very comfortable on our yearly guidance. Now all of you know that we are going to make what we said maybe a little bit better off. On the other side, it's going to be difficult and again, let's be transparent.

You won't see the full year result of Sanofi-Synthelabo standalone at the end of the year, just because we're going to publish consolidated books, which are going to include Aventis from the date of account takeover. That we're going to publish also pro forma showing the full year for both companies in 2004 in comparison with 2003.

We're going to give you a lot of information when we close the book of 2004 but nothing is going to resemble exactly to the easier- or I should say, an easier Aventis standalone nor Sanofi-Synthelabo. So, it's more of a help to you, to say, and it is very nice to say, that we're going to make it without any problem from the Sanofi side.

As far as the Aventis is concerned, well, you know what Aventis has been saying at the end of July, when they did release their result. They would make it, as they said on their guidance, on the sales level 6-7% - for the rest it is more difficult to say very precisely but let's-- I want to re-assure you we're on a global vision, we're going be. And I'm talking about pro forma, and you know that I like to talk about the net adjusted result, the adjusted net income which is the best line item I can use, to give you a good overview of what has been discussed today of the new Group, comparing 2004 with 2003. We said it's going to be accretive from year one. Or let's put it another way, and I guess that we will answer-- I won't go any further the answer on this guidance aspect.

Where are we? Last year we made [an increase] by €2.94 a share. I'm talking about Sanofi-Synthelabo now - and back to Sanofi-Synthelabo standalone 2003, €2.94 per share. What we did say as a guidance for year 2004 was that, with the dollar at $1.25 to the euro, we would make an increase by 15%. Now I'm not that good at calculation but that would bring us to €3.38 a share.

Now I look at the consensus and this is not very different. What I have seen the consensus for the year 2004, is not very different from that. What we've said and what we were saying, it could be accretive as of 2004. That does mean that we will do better than €3.38 a share. Let's be clear. I don't want to be any more precise but I don't want you to believe that we wouldn't make it. So I can tell you today that we're going to be even doing a bit more than that.

I have hoped that this does answer your question for guidance in 2004.

Thank you.

I try to answer the three questions concerning Acomplia. First of all, for the first question, I just would like to start by saying that, in fact as you mention, we have very reproducible effects of Acomplia in the obese patient. And to tell you the truth, we were very much surprised by such a reproducibility because it is always known that obese patient are, let's say, very difficult patients. They are not compliant and you know they change their mind every day.

So we got very consistent results concerning efficacy and much more than we thought. And just remind you, that it started from the same study that we presented to you. We got very, very nice dose response curve which, at that time, already surprised us. To be more precise concerning the serious adverse events, in fact, we got also the same safety profile in both studies.

For sure, it was only a little bit higher in RIO-Europe but, as you mention, it was also a little bit higher in the placebo group. In other words, whatever the study we had, we got the same profile concerning the side effects - GI disorders which are mild and transient but sometimes a little bit more for the serious adverse events. And this is also true with the so-called CNS effect, which-- that we got.

And we already mentioned to you that some of the CNS effect we got might be explained by a kind of withdrawal syndrome, which is well-known, for instance, for patient who just would like to stop to smoke. But be sure that this is also true with people that just would like to stop to eat, who eat too much.

And in fact, the difference we got is linked to a different reporting from one country to another, and in RIO-Europe, as you know, it's mainly European countries.

Concerning the [indiscernible] of the compound, this compound has a very long half-life. The terminal half-life is of about 2 days, 2-3 days. And moreover, which is even more important for the [provincial] clinical profile of this compound, we don't let any drug interaction with this compound which is for sure quite important in the cardiovascular area.

What is the future of the 5mg form? As you can see, 5mg form in the two studies is not potent enough but maybe we can question the possibility of the maintenance. In other words, we can start by 20mg in order to reach a steady state effect, and then to see what might do 5mg or 10mg. In any case, we'll see.

Be sure that we were told by the FDA to test this hypothesis in smoking cessation. You know we have a long-term study for the maintenance of the effect on smoking cessation where, after in [indiscernible] for 5mg, we have to check the possibility of for sure going on with 5mg but to test for 5mg versus placebo.

So in other words, we then by the end of this year, beginning of next year, the effect on long-term treatment in patient who just would like to smoke, to stop to smoke. The possible effect of 5mg in maintenance. So, in other words, for sure we're starting those with the 20mg, concerning the 5mg too early to say, possibly maintenance.

Interesting. Thank you.

Okay, next question.

And from Morgan Stanley, Andrew Brown.

Good afternoon. Five quick questions if I may, mainly on rimonabant. Firstly, blood pressure. You don't have an effect on blood pressure that's significant. Given the magnitude, the weight loss, that's somewhat surprising. How much of an issue do you think this is going to be with the regulatory authorities and is there any explanation for it?

Second, on the mechanism of action - the impacts on visceral fat, the [enopenectryn], which could translate into commercial impact. Are you actually going to get that on the label? Do you have enough evidence to support that to get it on the label?

Third, if you could say a word about reimbursement about pricing in terms of what kind of price can you see the market will sustain, and would you get a reimbursement from? And how your discussions are beginning there?

And then last two questions on the recent CS747 data presentation at ESC. And then finally, on Avapro where Bristol's made it clear that its strategy is back to basics. Could you give us a sense of - this question for Hanspeter - of the outlook for potential restructure of existing deal between Sanofi and Bristol product?

Well, I will start by the two first questions. Concerning the effect on blood pressure, I just remind you that we got a positive effect. That is to say a decrease of roughly a little bit more than 1mm. Keep in mind that not all the patients are hypertensive.

When we have hypertensive patients and where there is a decrease in body weight, we have a decrease in blood pressure, and it’s well-known. And this effect is certainly theoretically linked to a decrease in body weight.

The magnitude is far less than, say, that with Zenecal?

To my knowledge, no, I disagree with you. It's no different from what happened with Zenecal but, in any case, we'll see in a population of hypertensive patients.

Concerning the [enopenectryn], [indiscernible] so it is too early to say. In any case, we are pretty sure that part of the explanation of the unique profile of Acomplia is certainly linked to an increase in the [indiscernible] levels induced by this compound, and especially [hyperbolity].

Will it be in the level of [indiscernible] we'll have to discuss with the authorities, and too early to say. But it's certainly agreed of great importance concerning the mechanism of action of these compounds.

CS747 - what can I say? We got so-called [level] response study where we got no difference in bleeding and no difference in so-called efficacy. So you know we'll see after the Phase III study. I just remind you, for instance, in the past but a long time ago, we [indiscernible] to be [indiscernible] by [indiscernible].

They got very nice results in Phase II but they were unable to detect any very important effects in Phase III. And with what we see, we didn't see a dramatic difference between both compounds. If somebody considers that's a little bit more active, I would say it would induce a little bit more bleeding. So, according to us, [indiscernible] we don't know the [dose] yet. We'll see by the end of the study. It's certainly a very preliminary study.

So, concerning the order for restructure, my friend Hanspeter Spek will answer you.

Yes, the first one on our growth. Well, we are in a period of [structured] as every year it is part of the year, and we are in discussions with BMS, watching let's say the end of course what to expect. So, on both sides, there is an understanding that the, overall scenario for both companies has changed. BMS has made public that for them cardiovascular is no more a strategic priority.

Well we have gained significant in muscle. We have gained a significant access also to additional know-how in cardiovascular. As you know, Aventis has a huge franchise in [indiscernible] becomes partially at least available because the patent has gone off, or will go off. And also, the issues are part of the ongoing discussions with Bristol-Myers. It is by far too early to announce anything.

We can say that Avapro is doing even better in the US than we expect. So we have found an adequate solution to changes of the environment with Bristol-Myers in the past. And I am sure that we will also find a good and an adequate adaptation for our strategies, and our collaboration for our [indiscernible] as from 2005.

The question on pricing of Acomplia is, of course, a little bit further down the road. We are currently actively testing this in a pricing scenario. So its really too early to say something relatively specific but on a, let's say, on a price band we have to the right side a very, very high price which will perhaps go into the neighborhood of $8-10 per day, which is the cost of treatment of weight reducers.

And to the left side of the band you may have a chronic treatment and there, of course, you see [Eightway]. Antagonists may play a role at the reference end, of course, statins. So from my understanding today, the pricing of Acomplia will be situated more in the left half of the side than to the right half. And that-- which means if you take a statin today, also Plavix would be a reference, since the left hand would be around, let's say, $1.80-$2.00, and as I indicated before, the right hand is perhaps $8.

But early to say, of course, by the end of the day we will fix prices in line with the labeling we will obtain first for the US.

I just would like to add, Andrew, that it's well-known right now that a few weeks ago, obesity was considered as a pathological state right now in the United States. And moreover, keep in mind that metabolic syndrome is, let us say, more and more discussed everywhere as a new pathology. For all these reasons, as you can understand, and with the reasons we have, we are ready for consideration for the reimbursement of Acomplia in the near future.

Thank you.

From UBS, [Stuart Harris].

Good afternoon, thank you very much. Two quick questions. In terms of the-- both the [indiscernible] around Europe, is there any filtering as regards patients with psychiatric disorders, or patients who may have predisposition towards psychiatric disorders? And this is something that the FDA and you have to have discussions about, as regards specifically looking at sub-groups?

And secondly, Mr. Le Fur, just looking at the-- your comments on the metabolic syndrome parameters - 50% due to weight loss, 50% interposed with weight loss. Could you explain those a bit more, how you get to that figure, please? Thank you.

So concerning the psychiatric patient, in fact, we have I would say even more than you ask for. As you know, we started a few years ago a so-called [Meta Trial] in schizophrenic patients, where we compared 4 [indiscernible] that [indiscernible] carried out. One of the compounds was Acomplia and at the same dose, 20mg.

You are certainly aware that there are two positive results with two compounds, I will not comment that, and two negative compounds. Among the two negative compounds was Acomplia. So, in other words, in schizophrenic patients which are very sensitive patients, we give them 20mg of rimonabant and it was-- it's already published, you can find that, that figure exactly, no effect, I would say. Unfortunately, no positive effect on both positive syndrome of schizophrenia, negative syndrome of schizophrenia.

On mood disturbances we got nothing. The compound was similar to placebo. So that's why we are very confident when you perform such a study and it was finished as you know. We didn't publish the study for safety reasons but right now we can use this as an effective study for, again, very sensitive patients. Those patients which are schizophrenic patients.

Second question was - I'm sorry I don't remember. Yes, how can we demonstrate that, well it's very easy. You plot the decrease in body weight the parameters [rate]. For instance, if you consider the increase in HDL cholesterol, you plot all the patients and measure for each patient the increase in the HDL cholesterol, versus the decrease in body weight.

And you see in that a correlation between both, and what we got is very simple. Roughly 50% correspond to direct decrease in body weight, and 50% of the effect of HDL on the effect of triglyceride, on the effect of insulin, was indicative of the decrease in body weight. And as you-- as Andrew Brown mentioned to us, it's possibly explained by the increase of hypertonic [influence].

Exactly. Thank you very much.

And from [La Exis, Peron Bertram].

Yes, good afternoon. Just a few questions if I may. First of all, could we have a follow-up with regards to the timeline for the studies that are still ongoing on rimonabant? When do you plan to publish them, at what congress? On the short-term I mean in.

And also, on another product, on [Cordarone]. Could we also have an update with regards to your discussions with the FDA, and when-- well, how the things are going? Thank you.

So, we start with Acomplia. As you know, we are in the obesity part four study. We're 2 years further up from where originally were up in North America and, two, one year follow-up with co-morbidity. We already repeat [indiscernible].

Where we will present at the American Heart Association this November, the one year research of North America, and what can I say? As you saw, the effects of rimonabant is very reproducible. Maybe I can say that we are very optimistic and this is an understatement concerning this [indiscernible]. We make all the [associate]. That is to say, the [abnormalities] and the two year follow-up, as you know, by the end of this year, beginning of next year.

And this will be also true for the so-called smoking cessation studies, including the maintenance, that is to say the long-term study. So, next result at the American Heart Association with North America, one year treatment. Then by the beginning-- the end of this year, beginning of next year, we don't know exactly where right now, you will have all the dose [indiscernible].

I just remind you that we still believe that we file Acomplia in the second quarter of 2005.

Concerning rimonabant - we started the discussion with the FDA. As you know, we got very good results with rimonabant in the so-called agonist and [indiscernible] study in the two. An indicative study. I just remind you, concerning the compound that, for instance, we doubled or tripled the medium time to relapse in these patients. And with a very, very nice active profile offered no difference than just placebo, which is more than atypical for an anti-arrhythmic agent.

However, we got in rimonabant, as you know, an increase in the number of deaths since placebo, that we can't still explain exactly, and we don't know whether it's pure chance or not. In other words, we started the discussion with the FDA. Since the discussions are still ongoing, as you know, we can't comment on that before we finish the discussions with the FDA.

But in any case, as you saw in the European Society of Cardiology, the compound, especially in the two efficacy study, was very important and very safe. So, we do want to have news-- some news before the end of the year or beginning of next year. Frankly speaking, it's too early to say. We are still discussing with them.

Thank you.

Next question.

From Exane BNP Paribas, [Frederique Desney].

Hello, good afternoon. A few quick questions. One on the change in working capital. Just if you can give us some highlights on why it increases so much during this first half, compared to first half last year? A quick comment.

Similar one on your growth target. Do you think that you will come up to the market with a mid-term growth target or only 2005 target? Is it possible to ask you maybe to expand a little bit your window of guidance in February?

A quick question also on Acomplia. Do you plan to start studies in mortality and morbidity? And also studies in combination of the drug with other drugs, targeting other aspects of the additional aspect of the metabolic syndrome? And do you plan, or do you expect, a fast-track review of the product? Thank you.

Okay, if you don't mind I'll start with the question on Acomplia. For sure, with the results we got we decided to start the morbidity/mortality study with patients with cardiovascular risk. That is certainly on top of existing drugs. And as I mentioned earlier, since [Welatina], we have no drug interaction with Acomplia. We'll set up this study and do hope to start this study in 2005.

In the meantime, we'll also start a study in order to see what will be the effect on the-- of Acomplia on the upper pelvic [flash]. That is to say IVS and ING study.

Concerning the fast-track, one more time, we will have to discuss with the authority but we still believe that it's possible, knowing the unit profile of this campaign. And you know better than me, that in the States obesity is more than inactivity. So for this reason we are very confident but, again, we never say if we will fast-track, since we finish the discussion with the FDA. But we are in a rather good situation in order to possibly fast-track.

Back to technicalities, you asked the question about working capital. That's right, that the increase in the working capital in the first half was a little bit over €600m. There are 3 main reasons to this situation. The first one obviously is the growth in activity. You've seen that on a reported basis, our sales increased by a little bit over 14%. So this is the mannerism. And there are 2 additional items.

The first one of the merger related costs. They did amount €120m before tax at the end of June. They have been put in the balance sheet in short-term sales for the time being, since they are going to be accounted for within the balance sheet. Afterwards, I mean phase of goodwill or any other items spread over a long-term period. So they have not been taken in the P&L, so they are in the balance sheet and this will explain what the increase in the working capital.

The third item is purely a technical matter. This is related to income tax. I am sure that at least a part of you know the difference between the-- there is between computation of income tax at the P&L level for the various and consideration, and the actual dates of payment of the income tax and of the French rules. This is an item which more or less happens as regular but not necessarily in the same magnitude.

This is purely a technicality and there is-- that is not a trend which is to be followed up or double or whatever on a yearly basis. This is just a lag between the payment and the computation.

As regards the other question, the mid-term target. What can I say? Well, first I guess that there has not been that many pharmaceutical companies which have tried to give multi-years guidance to the market. Unfortunately, you all know Aventis were not capable of fully delivering what they did give, that they give to the market.

So that is a very, very good result not to try and do exactly what they did because this is too difficult of an exercise, and there is a good reason for that. A very few years ago, for example, allotment of the financial markets was over 15%. I'm talking of [you] right now. They need run much more than 15%. I'm talking of the beginning of this century.

What did happen in this first half of this year, worldwide development of by 9%. So the world is rapidly changing and it could be worthwhile trying to give the actual, precise figures for the years to come. So we will go and, as any other do now well, which is to give a guidance for next year at the beginning of the year, and even that is a difficult exercise. We will try to give you more statistics of the facts that there is just not about any good way to pick it because the environment is driving the system, not only the Company.

Thank you.

From ING Financial Markets, [Matt Turnham].

Good afternoon gentlemen. A couple of quick questions. Firstly, just in terms of your choice of the 5mg and the 20mg. Can you remind us from the Phase II studies what were the dose limiting toxicities of doses above 20mg? And just remind us why the 20mg dose was chosen exactly?

And then secondly, we go through a habit at the moment of obviously going through the Phase III efficacy data from trials. And then it comes to the FDA Advisory Committee Meetings, and we see lots of small safety concerns that are picked up by the FDA which we haven't seen in previous announcements. I was wondering whether you could pre-empt that by a little bit, giving us - maybe not obviously nausea and dizziness, and the other side effects that we've seen over the 1%. But are there any worrying side effects that we should be aware of or other things that would be issue for the FDA, when it comes to a potential Advisory Committee Meeting? Thanks.

So, it was possible to increase the dose in human volunteers with Acomplia at rather high levels. And we decided to use 20mg because, if you remind well and we publish that, at 40mg that we tested the compound in smoking cessation, and we got roughly the same profile that even with more side effects as expected. So, in other words, at 40mg we got more and more severe GI disorders and more so-called CNS effects.

So that's why we decided to use 20mg because we need to have a very efficient compound but, since we are in a long-term segment, we just would like to have a very safe compound. So the decision was to use 20mg for that reason. So, again one more time, we believe that at 40mg, even if possible that the compound might be possibly more active, the side effects were more severe, and it seemed like very classical.

Concerning the so-called other side effects that you should be aware, as you know everything about the compound. We repeat one more time that the side effects that we got are GI disorders effects and some CNS, effects which are dizziness, sometimes anxiety, some effects on mood. Again, one more time, and at 20mg, all these effects are mild and transient.

And, again, I repeat that possibly that the so-called CNS effects are, in fact, kind of withdrawal syndrome. In other words, I would say another indirect proof of effectiveness, efficacy. In other words, when you have a sole effect on appetite, on body weight in patient, you might get possibly more withdrawal syndrome. That is to say, more CNS effects which, I repeat one more time, are mild and transient. We don't know of any items serious side effects - the US, everything in that.

Okay, next one please.

Thank you.

From Deutsche Bank, [Lucas Helman].

Yes. Gentlemen, good afternoon. Thanks very much for the time. Most of my questions have actually been answered but a couple if I might. Just for clarification, from what date will you actually be consolidating the proportion of Aventis you own at the present time?

Secondly, just on some of the products which are in partnership and which Aventis highlighted may be at risk of partners claiming back products, [Vactinel] in particular. Is there a date by which partners actually have to act if they decide to buy out their rights?

And thirdly, Gerard, I wondered if going back to CS747 and the jumbo [Timmy] trial. If you were to criticize the structure of that trial in any way, i.e., why it might have disadvantaged Plavix, what would your comments be? Thank you.

Well, Matt, I start on the partnerships. As you are probably aware, there are a number of partnerships in place on the side of Aventis. I think in terms of territory, there are two which are potentially sensitive. One is with Pfizer and the other one is with Proctor & Gamble. In both agreements, there are also delays which I would not like to comment here further because they are subject to the existing confidentiality agreements to partners.

Nevertheless, I think it's fair and in both in line with the communication of those partners, that we have immediately after closing addressed those issues and we are in conversations with both partners. Under these conditions, the partnerships may continue since this is the case. You mentioned this Proctor & Gamble - a very evident issue because the product already is on the market. It's doing very well, so to say. I think it's fair to say that also Proctor & Gamble is very content with what Aventis has done so far.

On the other side, the partnership with Pfizer is much more [indiscernible]. The product is not registered yet. So there is a little bit less of immediate time pressure on it but also, in this agreement there are of course delays which will be perfectly respected.

As far as the Aventis stake, our first consolidation is time span and I'm certain this item is under discussion right now with our auditors. But I have to give you a little bit more concrete answer. I guess that what I have said is that the outcome of the situation is, what is going to be important I guess for you all, is what sort of [display] under the pro forma set of accounts.

Just because this is something which is going to be comparable to comparing 2003 and 2004, half year to half year, and this is [indiscernible] [for countries] and at the end, remember that we'll do that, not only under bottom line results, also on a pro forma adjusted net income basis. So, we work on the first part of question, the issue that [indiscernible] not only that but also this pro forma, and as you said. So that at the same time you're in a position to net cash in some of the performance under new [book].

Concerning the jumbo trials, in fact, it found us well. The board will be chosen on safety. This is on bleeding. If you consider significant bleeding, there's roughly no [corresponding] effect as you can see. No difference between the dosage of the [indiscernible] compound and which will [indiscernible] of bleeding. You get one [indiscernible]. There's no difference and in any case both on bleeding and on so-called efficacy, there's no difference between the [CS] compound and [gloperclex].

So my question is, what will be the dose with such so-called [indiscernible]? I don't know what to do in order to choose the best does. So that's all I can say.

Okay, thank you.

Okay, next question please.

From HSBC, Martin Hall.

Good afternoon. Yes, just a point of clarification. Could you tell us from 2005 are you going to be producing both sales and earnings on a quarterly basis?

Okay, yes, that is our intention, to communicate both on sales and bottom line results on a quarterly basis as of 2005. We may take the time it takes for the first quarter just to make sure that we get a lot of product through and the right information, and the correct information. But that it is exactly our intention.

Thank you very much.

Okay, shall we take the last question, please?

Yes, it's from Charles [Bruley] of [Bruley] Associates.

A very naive question on your excellent presentation in May, Mr. Dehecq. You showed a 4% or 5% share of sales in the US. I assume that was your company alone before the merger. What would it be with Aventis?

Mr. Dehecq unfortunately is not with us, so there is a small problem to answer the question but certainly, Jean-Claude Leroy if you can repeat? [Inaudible - over-talking] we try to answer your question.

What was the share of market-- of US sales of the combined new company compared to the 4% or 5% that was shown in the May 2004 slide presentation?

Just a sec. The market share of the new is 4% on a consolidated basis and 5% on a bedrock basis, you know including the [indiscernible] sales in the US.

One little follow-up - I assume you hope that's going to go up in share of the market?

We face up to that development. You've seen on the first slide from at least Sanofi product, the performance you know about Aventis. We don't see no good reason we should not increase this market share. I just-- because the co-operation is to be made with a market we saw 10% increase in the first half, so we are well above that. And we don't think that will decrease.

Right, and any chance of Japan?

Perhaps I dig in once again. You saw again a little word on the US. By the end of the first semester, Aventis is growing in the US by approximately 12% and Sanofi is growing by approximately 35%. This is in front of a market which is at about 9%-10%. So it's evidence that we are very, very strongly growing, and significantly improving our market share in the US.

In Japan, Aventis is doing well. It's growing above the market, not significantly. But nevertheless you know that Sanofi is in a very special situation, having only a small direct presence but a large indirect presence through the various joint ventures.

I think the most exciting news to come should be, and will be, the registration of [Clocidox] within the next month. We have announced the fact that we are very confident that Clocidox will make it to the market.

[Indiscernible] will be launched in a joint venture situation with [Phyegy] where we have general direct-- a further direct presence through the market. And where, of course, we see relatively large feel for presence of Aventis future, sanofi-aventis Japan, that will give us additional market.

Right, thanks very much.

Okay, this was the conclusion with Jean-Claude Leroy. We'll take the very, very last question.

From [indiscernible] of Lehman Brothers.

My question has actually been answered already, thank you.

Just one in the pipe?

Yes, Michael [Cashman], Bernstein.

Yes, okay, go on.

Great, thank you. A couple of questions. How do you guarantee that you get the desired sales effort from Bristol-Myers? Is there a contractual number of details that they're required to put behind their products? The second question is, will the FDA require the two year data for Acomplia?

And then, the final question is, can you quantify the percent of R&D that's due to the 3 products that you discussed in the press release - Plavix, Arixtra and Avapro? What percent of R&D are those?

I take the last one and take it from the expense side. We never publish research efforts for individual products, and I assume that we will also continue to do so in the future. As far as the agreement with Bristol-Myers are concerned, they are confidential. They are secrets but evidently sales and obligations to do reasonable efforts in the best interests of the products.

What Bristol-Myers has done always in the past and that is why I am totally confident that Bristol-Myers will do it also in the future.

Concerning Acomplia, for sure the guidelines of the FDA in the obesity field is very simple. Two years follow-up are mandatory. So that's why we'll file second quarter 2005. That's why it’s important to believe the 2 years follow-up in order to file, that we'll file with FDA on this second quarter, 2005.

Do you have any data on whether there's any rebound in weight for the patients?

You will have this data when we have the full year [call]. During this second year, we-- the people will receive either placebo or Acomplia. So that is to say that we know whether there will be a rebound effect on that but too early to say. We will be patient as we are.

Thank you very much.

Okay, thank you very much and now Jean-Claude.

Well, just a few words of conclusion. It has been a great pleasure to address with you various topics of the new sanofi-aventis, which has a very good result for the first half of the ex-Sanofi-Synthelabo. I am sure very, very exciting result for rimonabant and Acomplia, after the one which were released at the beginning of the [Inaudible - line problem] and I strive to have an ongoing work.

Be sure that we are going hard to put this new group in a position to have a very good performance. In 2005 we will dedicate a lot of time to put the people together and have the top line increasing in 2005, as compared to where it has gone so far. And I am sure that you are active as we are, then we will deliver what we have promised to the market. Thank you very much.

Okay, thank you very much.

Thank you for your participation in this call.