Brandicourt: ‘Very good fit’.

Bloomberg/Geneva

Olivier Brandicourt, whose track record includes the introduction of the best-selling drug in history, takes the helm at Sanofi with the mandate of bringing new drugs to the US after missteps led to his predecessor’s ouster.
Brandicourt, the 59-year-old head of Bayer’s healthcare division, is “a very good fit” for Sanofi and “has the experience of the portfolio businesses we have,” Sanofi’s chairman Serge Weinberg said in an interview.
“A lot will be about launches, not only in 2015,” and the US “is very high on the priority list,” Weinberg said.
The French national will take the helm April 2, Paris-based Sanofi said in a statement on Thursday, more than five months after Canadian-German national Chris Viehbacher was fired. Weinberg, 64, is bringing in a new chief with experience in the US, where Sanofi lost market share for its top-selling diabetes treatment amid a price war with Novo Nordisk.
Brandicourt, a doctor trained in Paris, was CEO of the health-care unit at Leverkusen, Germany-based Bayer since 2013. He has 28 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, and had previously risen through the ranks at Pfizer to lead the US company’s emerging-markets and established- products units. Earlier, he was a malaria researcher in Paris and spent two years working as a doctor in the Republic of Congo. Brandicourt will be based in Paris.
Sanofi dropped 0.3% to €87.56 as of 11:30 am in Paris. The stock has gained 18% since the day before Viehbacher’s abrupt October 29 ouster, compared with a 17% advance in the Bloomberg Europe Pharmaceuticals Index.
At Pfizer, Brandicourt oversaw the introduction of the cholesterol treatment Lipitor, the best-selling drug in history. That experience may be valuable as Sanofi prepares to introduce Praluent, which is poised to be the first in a new class of cholesterol-lowering agents. Sanofi said last month it anticipates US approval of the drug by July, putting it a month ahead of a competing treatment from Amgen.
Werner Baumann, Bayer’s 52-year-old chief strategy and portfolio officer, will succeed Brandicourt as the head of the health-care unit, the German company said in a separate statement.
While Sanofi’s key diabetes business faces stalling sales, the company said in November that by 2020 it plans to introduce 18 products that could garner cumulative sales of €30bn ($34bn) over the first five years. The planned introductions include Toujeo, a successor to the blockbuster Lantus diabetes treatment, and the world’s first vaccine against the mosquito-borne illness dengue, as well as Praluent.
The US accounted for 34% of Sanofi’s $44.9bn in sales last year, and is where most of Sanofi’s new products will be introduced first, according to Weinberg. “The US is important to us,” he said.
Weinberg interviewed a dozen candidates for the job and the drug maker’s nomination committee had “intense discussions” with four of them, he said, before Brandicourt was picked. Not all of the candidates were French.
Sanofi’s board voted unanimously on October 29 to fire Viehbacher, 54, after a six-year term in which he overhauled the research operation to focus on biotechnology drugs. The previous day, he had surprised investors by saying sales at the diabetes division wouldn’t grow in 2015, sending the share price tumbling the most in almost 16 years.
Under Viehbacher, Sanofi acquired Genzyme in 2011 for $20.1bn and also forged partnerships with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals to revamp the company’s pipeline.
While Sanofi is in no need of acquisitions today and will remain “very disciplined” on deal making, the company could benefit by strengthening some of its businesses, Weinberg said in the interview.