EU Commission approves €400m aid for Sanofi insulin plant

On 8 September 2026 the European Commission approved €400 million of state aid (federal government, state of Hesse, city of Frankfurt) for Sanofi-Aventis Deutschland. In return Sanofi commits to building a new insulin plant in Frankfurt-Höchst for around €1.3 billion by the end of 2032 (construction start October 2026), producing at least 1.1 tonnes of insulin a year there until 2042, holding stocks and prioritising the European market in shortages; several hundred skilled workers are to be employed in the new facility. Höchst is the only production site for human insulin in the EEA — without the aid Sanofi said it would have closed the site.

Sanofi had already announced the investment itself in 2024; the in-window event is the state-aid clearance (hessenschau, 8 September 2026; second source wallstreet-online.de, 10 September 2026). Around 6,500 people work at the Höchst site.