Dec 7 (Reuters) - Sanofi said on Thursday it has 12 drug candidates with annual sales potential of more than $1 billion in development, as it faces investor pressure after abandoning 2025 margin targets to boost research and development (R&D) spending.

The 12 blockbuster drugs include nine medicines and vaccines with 2 billion to 5 billion euros ($2.15-$5.38 billion) in peak sales potential, Sanofi said in a statement.

It also highlighted three "pipeline-in-a-product" assets with a potential of more than 5 billion euros in peak sales thanks to their potential to treat several conditions.

After a 15% plunge in Sanofi's stock on Oct. 27 when CEO Paul Hudson unexpectedly abandoned 2025 margin targets, investors have been seeking clarity on how much he plans to boost the R&D budget and what the likely pay-off in new drug projects will be.

The France-based drugmaker, which holds an R&D event for investors in New York on Thursday, said it expects its recently launched and future pharmaceutical assets to generate more than 10 billion euros ($10.76 billion) of annual sales by 2030.

The company's top-selling anti-inflammatory drug Dupixent, which it hopes to use in treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), often known as "smoker's lung", is expected to deliver a low double-digit rate of annual sales growth from 2023 and 2030, it said.

"We are in a privileged position today with many very promising assets in mid- and late-stage development," Head of R&D Houman Ashrafian said in a statement.

"We believe in our capacity to improve outcomes for patients globally, while bringing innovative new medicines to market and strengthening our leadership in immunology and neuro-inflammation," Ashrafian said.

Recently launched Beyfortus, used to prevent a common respiratory infection in infants, is among the assets it expects to help generate its forecasted sales.

Two products with potentially more than 5 billion euros in annual sales are eczema drug amlitelimab, to build on the success of mega-blockbuster Dupixent, and frexalimab against multiple sclerosis, both to be tested in costly phase III trials from next year.

Sanofi said an early-stage experimental pill against psoriasis and other inflammatory conditions, part of a class of drugs known as tumour necrosis factor or TNF inhibitors, had the same commercial potential.

($1 = 0.9293 euros) (Reporting by Anirudh Saligrama and Shivani Tanna in Bengaluru; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Edmund Klamann)