Hudson out at Sanofi, as Belén Garijo named CEO
Former Merck KGaA chief executive Belén Garijo previously worked for Sanofi for eight years.
Sanofi has announced a change of leadership, with former Merck KGaA chief executive Belén Garijo taking the helm of the French group from Paul Hudson, whose contract will not be renewed.
The surprise decision was made at a board meeting yesterday, and means that Hudson will no longer be Sanofi's CEO at the close of business on 17th February, after six years in the role. Garijo's appointment comes just a few weeks after Garijo stepped down from the CEO role at Merck after a 15-year career at the German pharma and electronics group.
Media reports have suggested that the board was unhappy that a big increase in R&D spending under Hudson, preparing for the loss of patent protection for big brands – including blockbuster immunology therapy Dupixent (dupilumab), which brought in €14.7 billion last year – had not delivered as hoped.
Sanofi has had a series of late-stage disappointments in its pipeline of late, including an FDA rejection for oral BTK inhibitor tolebrutinib in multiple sclerosis, mixed data for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) candidate itepekimab, and setbacks for Escherichia coli vaccine ExPEC9V, venglustat in Fabry disease, and losmapimod in a form of muscular dystrophy.
In a statement, Sanofi thanked Hudson – who was CEO of Novartis Pharma before joining Sanofi in 2019 – for "valuable contributions to the transformation and development of the group."
It also said that Garijo "will bring an increased rigour to the implementation of Sanofi's strategy and accelerate the preparation of the group's future," with the strategic priorities of boosting productivity, governance, and the "innovation capacity" of R&D.
She will take up the CEO role at the French group on 29th April, at the end of Sanofi's annual general meeting, with head of general medicines Oliver Charmeil acting as CEO in the interim.
Sanofi's chairman, Frédéric Oudéa, said Garijo is "a well-recognised leader in our industry with an undisputable reputation" who "knows the Sanofi group very well." Before joining Merck, Garijo spent eight years at Sanofi, eventually acceding to the position of senior vice president, global operations, for the European region.
"She has the experience and profile to accelerate the pace, strengthen the quality of execution of strategy and lead the next growth cycle of the company, which is essential to build the group's future," added Oudéa.
