Sanofi already has a biologics hub at the plant in Framingham, Massachusetts ... Sanofi's biologics expertise comes from its US-based Genzyme unit, which it bought in 2011 for around $20 billion.

Sanofi has settled a long-running dispute with shareholders in the biotech Genzyme, who claimed the big pharma deliberately held back development of a multiple sclerosis drug to avoid payments ...

Genzyme of Cambridge, Massachusetts, faces millions in lost revenue from its top-selling specialty drugs Cerezyme and Fabrazyme as result of a viral contamination at its Allston, Massachusetts plant.