Paul Hudson, CEO Sanofi, speaking on CNBC’s Squawk Box at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland on Jan. 18th, 2024.
Adam Galici | CNBC
French drugmaker Sanofi ousted CEO Paul Hudson on Thursday, ending a six-year tenure marked by a stalled drive to replace blockbuster drugs going off patent and rising pressure from U.S. anti-vaccine policy and rhetoric.
The company said it had appointed Belén Garijo, the head of German drugmaker Merck KGaA, as new chief executive, adding that the 65-year-old Spanish executive would take over in late April.
Sanofi shares fell nearly 6% on Thursday, with some analysts pointing to Garijo’s relatively low profile.
“It is fair to say that Belen would not have been on many shortlists as potential successor given at Merck KGaA she arguably never reached the profile of prior executives there”, brokerage Jefferies analysts said in a note. Hudson, 58, who was pushed out only two months before his tenure was up for renewal, did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. He had admitted on a call with analysts late last month that his plans had not moved as quickly as anticipated.
Hudson latest pharma CEO to exit
His 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.
Sanofi, among the world’s largest vaccine makers, released a string of underwhelming trial updates in 2025, which cast a shadow over the company and helped drive its shares down around 25% over the past year, lagging Europe’s STOXX pharmaceutical index.
Hudson had also pursued bolt-on acquisitions in search of new medicines to help drive growth once its blockbuster asthma drug Dupixent loses key patents in the early 2030s. The lack of a successor to Dupixent, also used to treat eczema, heaped on the pressure.
“The market had been discussing a potential change as Paul Hudson’s contract was up for renewal in April,” Berenberg analyst Luisa Hector said, adding he had made positive changes in his six years though fell short on drug development.
“The final component of R&D fix is still work in progress.”
‘We have to be a little bit patient’
Hudson had been hired with a mandate to revive the company’s drug pipeline and share price – which initially buoyed Sanofi – but has struggled to reduce its dependence on Dupixent and the turnaround stalled.
“If you’d have asked me back in 2020, will (a turnaround) take between five and seven years for Sanofi, I’d say absolutely not. We’ll go faster, we’re smarter, we’re stronger. It was not to be the case,” he told analysts on January 29.
“So we have to be a little bit patient.”
Shareholders have seen a 33% return on their investment, including dividends, since September 2019 when Hudson took over, according to LSEG data, but that’s well below UK-based rivals AstraZeneca and GSK, which saw returns of 133% and 65% respectively during the same period.
Sanofi seeks its ‘next growth cycle’ under new CEO
Sanofi has also faced rising pressure on its key vaccine business, especially in the United States. In January it said that vaccine sales would be “slightly negative” this year, partly due to U.S. policy changes under President Donald Trump. Hudson had said in January that 2026 could offer a good time for dealmaking in the vaccine sector after Sanofi forecast high-single-digit overall sales growth this year.
Sanofi said in a statement that Hudson would step down as of February 17, while Garijo will take the role at the end of the group’s shareholder meeting on April 29. Sanofi board member Olivier Charmeil will serve as acting CEO during the transition.
Garijo previously worked for 15 years at Sanofi and was a board member at French cosmetics giant L’Oreal.
“She has the experience and profile to accelerate the pace, strengthen the quality of execution of strategy and lead the next growth cycle of the company,” Sanofi Chair Frederic Oudea said in a statement.