Miracle cures are few and far between. The best one can hope for is partial relief. So it is with Sanofi’s consumer health split. The French pharma group’s sale of a majority 50 per cent stake in its Opella unit to Clayton Dubilier & Rice leaves all participants with some ills to address.

For Sanofi the issue is not strategic. Indeed, separating consumer health — think paracetamol, laxatives and other over-the-counter medicines — from its core biopharma activities is sensible. The two have different R&D profiles, different distribution channels and require different sorts of managerial skills. This is a tried and tested path for pharma companies, with GSK and Pfizer spinning off Haleon and Johnson and Johnson waving off Kenvue in recent years.