Sanofi says M&A strategy to remain disciplined

(Reuters) - French drugmaker Sanofi (SASY.PA) will remain disciplined in its pursuit of takeover targets and potential therapeutic areas include oncology, immunology, multiple sclerosis and rare diseases, its finance chief and CEO said on Friday.

When asked whether Sanofi would continue to focus on deal targets in oncology after it was beaten out in the pursuit of U.S. cancer drug company Medivation (MDVN.O), Chief Executive (CEO) Olivier Brandicourt said, while cancer deals were still possible, internal drug development and collaboration with external partners might be enough to reach growth targets.

"We are opening our M&A strategy, as we said last year, to segments where have a good presence but where we need to strengthen our presence with inorganic growth, we mentioned immunology and we mentioned MS... rare disease can also be an area," Brandicourt told analyst in a conference call.

(Reporting by Ludwig Burger; editing by Edward Taylor)