(File photo: AFP)

PARIS, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi announced on Friday that its full-year 2022 sales increased by 7 percent year-on-year to around 43 billion euros (47 billion U.S. dollars).

Sales were up 12.2 percent in the United States, 6.2 percent in China and 2.4 percent in Europe, the company said in a press release.

The increase in sales in China was mainly due to the inclusion of several Sanofi drugs in the National Reimbursement Drug List (NRDL).

The group's net profit rose by 8 percent to 6.7 billion euros last year.

In 2022, net sales of pharmaceuticals increased by 6.9 percent, mainly driven by the Specialty Care and General Medicines portfolios. Vaccine sales were up 6.3 percent thanks to the progressive recovery of travel and booster vaccines.

The group also saw its consumer healthcare sales increase by 8.6 percent in 2022.

Sanofi's COVID-19 vaccine, VidPrevtyn Beta, was approved by the European Commission as a booster for the prevention of COVID-19 in adults who have previously received an mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid) or adenoviral COVID-19 vaccine. (1 euro = 1.09 U.S. dollar)