Sanofi has agreed to legally binding commitments after the European Commission raised concerns that the company may have spread misleading messages about a rival enhanced flu vaccine for older people in Germany and France.
The Commission announced on Wednesday that its investigation focused on communications about Fluad, made by CSL Seqirus, which competes with Sanofi’s enhanced flu vaccine Efluelda for people aged over 60.
Sanofi may be dominant in the market for enhanced flu vaccines in Germany and France, and from 2024 until at least autumn 2025 may have run a communication campaign aimed at healthcare professionals.
The activity was said to be concentrated in Germany, with a lower degree of intensity in France.
The alleged messages included suggestions that the evidence supporting Fluad was weaker than that for Efluelda, and claims about national vaccination recommendations that the Commission said were inaccurate, including implying that recommendations in Germany faced unresolved scientific objections from medical professional societies.
What Sanofi has agreed to do
Under the commitments, Sanofi said it will avoid certain statements in promotional materials aimed at healthcare professionals in Germany and France until March 2030.
The restrictions cover statements that criticise or cast doubt on national vaccination recommendations, portray Fluad negatively, or imply that Fluad’s evidence base is weaker than Efluelda’s.
Sanofi also agreed not to use such statements when providing input to so-called key opinion leaders — influential clinical experts — for their interactions with healthcare professionals in France and Germany about the vaccines.
In Germany, Sanofi will include a “sufficiently comprehensive and legible” reference to the most recent national vaccination recommendations in most promotional material related to Efluelda.
To address the possible impact of past messaging, Sanofi will publish a statement for 24 months on its German and French websites saying national vaccination recommendations treat Fluad and Efluelda as equivalent in protecting older people against flu, and that both have a robust evidence base.
It will also send the statement to healthcare professionals and key opinion leaders in Germany who were previously targeted by the campaign.
The Commission said it opened a formal antitrust investigation on 26 June 2026 and market-tested the proposed commitments between 8 July and 21 August 2026 before making them binding.
A monitoring trustee will oversee implementation and report regularly to the Commission.
The decision does not conclude that EU antitrust rules were breached, but makes the commitments enforceable.
The Commission's Executive Vice-President Teresa Ribera stated that the decision was intended to ensure vaccine choices could be made based on an impartial assessment of scientific evidence.
