STORY: French drugmaker Sanofi ousted CEO Paul Hudson on Thursday, ending a six-year tenure marked by a stalled drive to replace blockbuster drugs and rising pressure from U.S. anti-vaccine policy and rhetoric.
Sanofi said it had appointed Belén Garijo, the head of German drugmaker Merck, as the new CEO.
The 65-year-old Spanish executive will take over in late April and would be Sanofi's first female CEO.
But shares of the drugmaker fell on Thursday, with some analysts pointing to Garijo's relatively low profile and mixed record at Merck. Brokerage Jefferies said in a note that she wasn't "on many shortlists as potential successor."
Hudson, pushed out just two months before a potential contract renewal, had been tasked with reviving the company's drug pipeline and share price.
But he has struggled to reduce dependence on the company's blockbuster asthma drug Dupixent,
which loses key patents in the early 2030s, and the turnaround stalled.
Sanofi has also faced rising pressure on its key vaccine business, especially in the US.
In January the company said that vaccine sales would be "slightly negative" this year, partly due to U.S. policy changes under President Donald Trump.
Hudson's departure marks the latest in a recent string of European pharmaceutical CEO exits after new leadership at UK-based GSK in January and Danish weight-loss drugmaker Novo Nordisk last August.
