July 31 (Reuters) - France's Sanofi said on

Thursday that it expects annual sales to grow by high

single-digit percentage, helped by strong demand for its

anti-inflammatory drug Dupixent, as well as vaccines and newer

treatments.

It had previously forecast annual sales to grow by

mid-to-high single-digit percentage at constant currency rates.

The drugmaker confirmed it expects earnings to grow by a low

double-digit percentage this year, but said the forecast now

includes all expenses from its newly acquired businesses.

Sanofi has significantly amped up its R&D expenditure in

recent years and plans to be more active with acquisitions as it

looks to build its next wave of growth drivers beyond its asthma

drug Dupixent.

It recently closed its up to $9.5 billion acquisition of

Blueprint Medicines, a maker of rare immunology disease

treatments.

But investor hopes remain high for the anti-inflammatory

drug Dupixent, the company's main growth driver, especially

since it was approved for a common lung condition called chronic

obstructive pulmonary disease last year.

Sales of Dupixent, which it makes with partner Regeneron

, rose 21.1% to 3.83 billion euros ($4.38 billion),

compared to 3.74 billion euros expected on average by analysts

in a company-provided poll.

Chief Financial Officer François-Xavier Roger said that

outside of the U.S., sales of the drug exceeded 1 billion euros.

"We are very confident in our sales target of around 22

billion euros in 2030," Roger said about the drug.

Quarterly business operating income, excluding one-off

items, came in at 2.46 billion euros, below the average analyst

estimate of 2.57 billion euros in a poll posted on the company's

website.

Sanofi said higher research costs and higher profit sharing

with its partner Regeneron weighed on its earnings during the

quarter.

Vaccines sales rose a currency-adjusted 10% to 1.21 billion

euros in the quarter, ahead of a 1.14 billion euro analyst

consensus.

($1 = 0.8740 euros)

(Reporting by Bhanvi Satija in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank

Dhaniwala)