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By Elena Berton

Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

LONDON -(Dow Jones)- Sanofi-Aventis S.A. (SNY) shares fell sharply Thursday after it reported weak second-quarter earnings and said some drugs were withdrawn from trials, and despite the company nudging up full-year outlook.

The world's third-largest drugmaker by sales now expects adjusted earnings per share to rise by around 8% in 2008, compared with its previous outlook of 7% growth, thanks to cost cutting.

At 1201GMT, Sanofi-Aventis shares, which have lost around 23% of their value in the past 12 months, were down EUR2.10, or 4.6%, at EUR45.14 in a broadly higher Paris market.

Sanofi said its second-quarter net profit fell 4.4% to EUR1.6 billion. The figure was adjusted to exclude acquisition-related integration and restructuring costs, mainly related to its 2004 buy of Aventis. The company didn't provide a second-quarter 2007 net figure without adjustments, but the 2008 net was EUR1 billion.

Sales fell 3.6% to EUR6.69 billion from EUR6.94 billion a year earlier, as the effects of the weak U.S. dollar offset gains from blood thinners Lovenox and Plavix, as well as diabetes treatment Lantus and vaccines. Sanofi-Aventis reports its accounts in euros, but books sales in several currencies, including U.S. dollars.

Sales of Lovenox, Sanofi-Aventis' top-selling drug reported moderate growth at EUR637 million, slowed down by wholesaler stocking in the U.S. and product shortages in Europe.

Turning to its pipeline of experimental drugs, Sanofi-Aventis said it filed heart treatment Multaq with regulators in the U.S. and Europe at the end of June, after a recent study suggested Multaq can reduce the risk of death in patients with a heart condition known as atrial fibrillation, or irregular heartbeat.

The drugmaker had previously said it was planning to resubmit the drug, which the Food and Drug Administration rejected in 2006, by the end of September.

However, two antidepressants - amibegron and SSR149415 - and two cardiovascular drugs were discontinued, with Sanofi-Aventis noting the decision to submit another antidepressant drug, saredutant, to regulators will depend on the results of two studies, due to be completed in the first half of 2009.

Deutsche Bank analyst Michael Leuchten said that while the discontinued products only account for around 1% of his revenue forecasts for 2012, with more late stage assets discontinued, the upcoming patent loss of Sanofi-Aventis' blockbuster products is turning more threatening.

Earlier this week, Sanofi-Aventis' second best-selling product, Plavix, suffered a setback as generic copies of the blood-thinner were allowed to be sold in Germany.

Company Web site: www.sanofi-aventis.com

-By Elena Berton, Dow Jones Newswires; 44 20 7842 9267; elena.berton@ dowjones.com

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  07-31-08 0818ET
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