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PARIS: Sanofi has appointed Paul Hudson, a member of Novartis' board of directors, to replace its chief executive, Olivier Brandicourt, who will retire in September, the largest French drug maker announced on Friday.
Hudson will take office Sept. 1, Sanofi announced, confirming the Reuters report released Thursday and marking the latest transfer of a Novartis executive to a competitor.
Hudson, 51, is a CEO of Novartis Pharmaceuticals, one of the three main divisions of the Swiss company, established in 2016.
Previously, he worked at Schering Plow and AstraZeneca.
Novartis has appointed Marie-France Tschudin, president of Novartis' Advanced Accelerator Applications (AAA) division, to replace Hudson with immediate effect.
"Hudson was chosen for its reputation and is known for its strong management and digital expertise in the pharmaceutical industry," said a Sanofi source on Thursday.
Brandicourt was hired in 2015 to relaunch Sanofi's fate and actively restructured its business.
Under his tenure, the company traded its animal health unit with Boehringer Ingelheim against the German public health business for US $ 20 billion. Sanofi also sold its European generic branch for 1.9 billion euros to the private equity firm Advent International.
New launches such as Dupixent eczema treatment, cost reduction measures and new research and development priorities have allowed Sanofi to recover its profits in the second half of last year after a series of disappointing quarters.
Brandicourt's teams, however, failed to make two strategic acquisitions, yielding to Pfizer upon the acquisition of Medivation, California-based cancer specialist, in 2016 and not having acquired the company Swiss biotechnology company Actelion, acquired by Johnson & Johnson in 2017.
NEW MEDICINES
At Novartis, Tschudin is taking over one of the group's leading drugs, with annual sales of $ 35 billion and a stockpile of drugs, including the newly approved Zolgensma gene therapy of US $ 2.1 million per patient for children with spinal disease atrophy.
The departure of Hudson follows the exit of Samit Hirawat, head of development of oncology drugs, who will become the head of health Bristol-Myers Squibb, as announced Wednesday.
Novartis is looking for the efficiency with which it can deploy Zolgensma as well as several other new drugs, including Mayzent, in a crowded multiple sclerosis field.
Tschudin, a six-language Swiss citizen, joined Novartis in 2017 after working at Celgene, where she ran her hematology-oncology business for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
Responding to General Manager Vas Narasimhan, Tschudin's mandate will continue in the development of cell and gene therapy for rare diseases, while developing a diversified portfolio of drugs for heart disease, immunology, liver disease , neuroscience and respiratory diseases.
"Marie-France has a strong track record of promoting business excellence and a culture of inclusion and integrity," Narasimhan said.
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