Commenting on the Group's performance in 2012, Sanofi Chief Executive Officer, Christopher A. Viehbacher said: "2012 was a turning point for Sanofi with the loss of exclusivity in the U.S. for several significant legacy drugs. Despite the effect of the patent cliff, Sanofi was able to grow sales and mitigate the impact on Business EPS1. At the same time, Sanofi was able to obtain nine significant regulatory approvals and submit six new files with regulatory agencies. Although the financial results in the first half will experience a residual effect from patent expirations, we expect to resume growth in the second half of 2013. This will be driven primarily by continued strong performance from our growth platforms2 which now represent more than 70% of our sales and rose nearly 10%3 in 2012. We are on track to meet our 2012-2015 objectives for sustainable growth."