Sanofi-Synthelabo Pharmaceuticals

French pharmaceutical company created in 1999 from the merger of Sanofi with Synthélabo, the drug business of L'Oréal, with medicines for thrombosis, cardiovascular disease, epilepsy and sleep. It bought Aventis in 2004 to form Sanofi-Aventis, which took the name Sanofi in 2011 and continues as one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world.