French pharmaceutical group Sanofi announced on Tuesday that it was the subject of an investigation by the European Commission, which specified that a possible abuse of a dominant position was being examined.
"Sanofi confirms that representatives of the European Commission visited Sanofi's headquarters in France and Germany on September 29, 2025, as part of an investigation into its conduct in the seasonal flu vaccine sector," the group announced in a statement to AFP.
Earlier in the day, the European Commission announced that it had carried out searches at a pharmaceutical company, but without specifying its identity.
These investigations concern a possible violation of the European Union's competition policy "which prohibits the abusive exploitation of its dominant position on the markets," the Commission stressed in a brief press release.
The investigators were joined by local competition authorities, the text specifies.
The Commission added that its searches do not mean that the company in question is guilty of anti-competitive behavior.
Sanofi, for its part, said it was "assured that it had complied with the relevant rules and regulations."
The group warned that it would not comment further at this stage.
After briefly plunging after this announcement, Sanofi's share price had largely recovered as the Paris Stock Exchange closed, losing only around 0.5%.
Flu vaccines are a major business for Sanofi, which develops several of them. They are widely administered as part of annual vaccination campaigns such as the one that will begin in France on October 14.
Its competitors include the American Viatris and the Australian CSL Seqirus.
In recent years, Sanofi has suffered several setbacks, including the failure of its Covid vaccine, which arrived too late to market. Recently, the group's stock market plunged after disappointing results for an eczema treatment it is banking on.
In France, the group was also fined at the end of September for anti-competitive practices related to its anticoagulant Plavix. It was forced to pay more than €150 million in damages to the French health insurance system, a rarely seen level.
English 
French