Giovanni Caforio, the former CEO of Bristol Myers Squibb, is set to become the next board chairman of Novartis, which on Tuesday proposed the pharmaceutical industry veteran as its pick to replace Joerg Reinhardt in the role next year.
Reinhardt has served as Novartis’ chair since 2013 and plans to retire when his 12-year term ends in 2025. The appointment of Caforio will be put to Novartis’ shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting. Announcement of the planned succession Tuesday came alongside first quarter earnings that beat Wall Street forecasts.
Caforio spent two decades at Bristol Myers, rising through the ranks to become the company’s CEO in 2015. Under his eight-year tenure as chief, Caforio oversaw a number of major acquisitions, most notably the $74 billion buyout of Celgene that greatly expanded Bristol Myers cancer drug business. More recently, the company agreed to pay $14 billion to acquire brain drug developer Karuna Therapeutics and its closely watched treatment for schizophrenia.
He was replaced as Bristol Myers CEO by Chris Boerner in November.
Reinhardt, meanwhile, started at Sandoz in 1982, joining Novartis via the 1996 merger of Sandoz and Ciba-Geigy. He held several executive positions, including chief operating officer and head of Novartis’ then vaccines and diagnostics division, before he was appointed board chair.
During his time as chair, Novartis switched CEOs and underwent a significant transformation. The drugmaker sold its consumer business to GSK for $13 billion in 2018 and spun out its eye business Alcon.
The company shed its long-held stake in Roche in 2021 and later restructured its workforce and drug pipeline. Last year the company spun out Sandoz, completing the last major step in current CEO Vas Narasimhan’s plan to focus Novartis on high-margin prescription pharmaceuticals.
by Delilah Alvarado
Source: biopharmadive.com
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