Sector News

Novartis announces change in Sandoz leadership

March 14, 2019
Life sciences

Novartis announced today that Richard Francis will be stepping down as CEO of Sandoz, a Novartis division, and as a member of the Executive Committee of Novartis on March 31, 2019. Francesco Balestrieri, currently Region Head Europe, Sandoz, has been appointed ad-interim CEO Sandoz. He will report to Vas Narasimhan, CEO, Novartis.

Vas Narasimhan said; “I would like to thank Richard for his strong leadership of Sandoz over the past five years. During his tenure, Sandoz has consolidated its position as a global leader in Biosimilars and he and his team have successfully navigated the business through changing market dynamics and challenging headwinds in the US. Now, as we initiate a multi-year transformation program for the business and move to make it more autonomous, Richard has decided that for personal reasons he cannot commit to stay with Sandoz until the transformation is completed. I understand his decision and wish him the very best for the future.”

Regarding his decision to step down, Richard said; “The past five years have been immensely satisfying and rewarding. I am very proud of what we have achieved as a team. Together, we have expanded access to medicines across the world and reached many millions of patients. In particular, we have successfully launched five biosimilar products. As we announced earlier this year, Sandoz is embarking on a significant transformation. While I am excited by this, I realize that this is a multi-year journey which I cannot commit to and therefore have decided that now is the right time to step down.”

Francesco Balestrieri has spent the last eight years running commercial operations in Generics, most recently as Region Head Sandoz Europe which represents half of the Sandoz’ global sales and organization. Francesco, who has been with Novartis for 25 years, brings a deep understanding of the global Generics business and our full value chain. Prior to Sandoz, Francesco held various leadership positions at Ciba Vision including as Head of Ciba Vision US. He holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Venice.

Vas Narasimhan added; “I would like to thank Francesco for stepping up to take on this role. His leadership approach and business experience will be of great importance as we continue the Sandoz transformation.”

Source: Novartis via MarketWatch

comments closed

Related News

March 24, 2024

Johnson Matthey to sell its Medical Devices business for $700 million

Life sciences

Johnson Matthey Plc (JM; London) announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to sell 100% of its Medical Device Components business (MDC) to Montagu Private Equity (Montagu) for cash consideration of US$700 million (£550 million) on a cash free debt free basis.

March 24, 2024

Lonza acquires biologics manufacturing plant in California from Roche

Life sciences

Lonza AG (Basel, Switzerland) announced it has signed an agreement to acquire the Genentech large-scale biologics manufacturing site in Vacaville, Calif. from Roche (Basel, Switzerland) for $1.2 billion. The acquisition will significantly increase Lonza’s large-scale biologics manufacturing capacity.

March 24, 2024

Roquette to acquire IFF Pharma Solutions to boost global excipient presence

Life sciences

Roquette plans to acquire International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF) Pharma Solutions for an enterprise value of up to €2.85 billion (US$3.09 billion). With the acquisition set to close in the first half of 2025, the plant-based ingredient and pharmaceutical excipients supplier aims to reinforce its position in the pharmaceutical industry.

How can we help you?

We're easy to reach