French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi has been embroiled in a series of scandals that paint a troubling picture of the company’s ethical and legal standards. Over the past two decades, Sanofi has faced more than $1.3 billion in fines from U.S. state and federal agencies, revealing a pattern of misconduct that spans bribery, deceit, overcharging veterans, and animal cruelty. Despite widespread abandonment of the controversial forced swim test by other major pharmaceutical companies, Sanofi continues to subject small animals to this debunked method. This is just one facet of the company’s troubling history.
From allegations of bribery and deceptive marketing to overcharging Medicaid patients and military veterans, Sanofi’s actions have repeatedly drawn the ire of regulatory bodies. In May 2024, the company agreed to a $916 million settlement with the state of Hawaii for failing to disclose critical information about its drug Plavix. Earlier this year, Sanofi settled a $100 million lawsuit related to claims that its heartburn medication Zantac could cause cancer. These cases are part of a broader pattern of unethical behavior that includes inflating drug prices, providing kickbacks disguised as charitable donations, and bribing officials in multiple countries.
Sanofi’s actions have not only violated legal standards but have also raised significant ethical concerns, particularly regarding its treatment of animals. As the company faces increasing scrutiny, the full extent of its misconduct continues to come to light, revealing a corporate culture that prioritizes profit over integrity and human welfare.
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PETA figured a company that drops tiny animals into beakers of water in a test that has been debunked might also have other ethical problems. And were we ever right! French drugmaker Sanofi has a pockmarked history of deplorable decisions and dirty dealing culminating in more than $1.3 billion in fines imposed by U.S. state and federal agencies over the past two decades.
The forced swim test—in which small animals are compelled to swim for their lives in inescapable containers of water, supposedly as a model to test antidepressant drugs—has been abandoned by more than a dozen companies that heard from PETA, including Johnson & Johnson, Bayer, GSK, AbbVie Inc., Roche, AstraZeneca, Novo Nordisk A/S, Boehringer Ingelheim, Pfizer, and Bristol Myers Squibb.
But Sanofi clings to it. And that’s not the company’s only bad decision over the past 20 years. Just take a look at its history.
Since 2000, Sanofi has faced state and federal allegations of bribery, fleecing Medicaid patients, overcharging military veterans, deceptive marketing, and other serious wrongdoing.
Most recently, in May 2024, the company agreed to pay more than $916 million in a lawsuit brought by the state of Hawaii because it had failed to disclose the efficacy and safety profile of its drug Plavix.
Earlier this year, Sanofi settled a lawsuit worth $100 million with around 4,000 claimants who asserted that the company hadn’t warned users that its heartburn medicine Zantac could cause cancer.
In 2020, Sanofi paid nearly $11.9 million to the feds to resolve allegations that charitable donations were actually kickbacks to Medicare patients used to cover out-of-pocket costs for a multiple sclerosis drug made by the company.
Sanofi paid nearly $15 million to settle its part of a case brought in 2019 by the state of Illinois alleging inflation of wholesale prices used in setting the rates for Medicaid reimbursements.
And in that same year, the company paid $1.6 million in a West Virginia case alleging that it had marketed its drug Plavix as superior to much lower priced aspirin, despite evidence showing that it wasn’t more effective for certain uses.
In 2018, Sanofi paid more than $25 million in a case brought by the federal Securities and Exchange Commission for bribing officials at public hospitals and clinics in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.
The company’s salespeople generated money for the bribes by submitting false travel and entertainment reimbursement claims. They pooled the money and distributed it as bribes “to increase prescriptions of Sanofi products,” the commission said.
In 2014, the company paid another $39 million fine for a bribery scheme in Germany.
And rounding out Sanofi’s rap sheet, the company also agreed to pay the following to the U.S. Department of Justice:
What You Can Do
Sanofi clearly needs a round of restorative medication for its reputation. We prescribe dropping the forced swim test as the first step in that regimen.
Please TAKE ACTION by boycotting Sanofi’s over-the-counter products until the company ends its use of the forced swim test:
Ban Near-Drowning Tests on Animals
Notice: This content was initially published on PETA.org and may not necessarily reflect the views of the Humane Foundation.
