In an announcement, Genzyme Corp has said that it will be selling off its genetic testing business for as much as $925 million. And the seller is going to be most probably Sanofi Aventis SA as the pressure on this pharmaceutical company has increased tremendously to go ahead with this deal.

It is not sure whether this stand will make Sanofi soften its stand for the takeover of the Cambridge-based company to $69- a share. But in the end what will be the deciding factor will be whether Sanofi wants to be involved in the business that Genzyme has or not.

Sanofi's chief executive Christopher A. Viehbacher has been saying that the drug portfolio of Genzyme is a rare and important one as it is used as a treatment of many a rare diseases.

While he has not expressed any kind of enthusiasm to buy the company as of now, the portfolio if added in Sanfoi is definitely going to be beneficial.

On the other hand, Genzyme's CEO, Henri A. Termeer has informed its employees that it will be reducing the manpower by 1,000 worldwide in the period of next 15 months.