Sanofi’s Board of Directors has decided not to renew the Paul Hudson’s contract as CEO and to replace him with current Merck CEO Belén Garijo. 

They have announced that Olivier Charmeil, Executive Vice President, General Medicines, will assume the role of Interim Chief Executive Officer during the transition. 

Garijo has been tasked with strengthening the “productivity, governance, and innovation capacity of Research & Development”. 

Garijo joined Merck KGaA in 2011 and became its Chief Executive Officer in 2021, becoming the first woman to lead a DAX40 company in Germany.  

She is a Spanish national who worked in a hospital for six years, before embarking on a career in the pharmaceutical industry, first in the Research and Development department of Abbott, then for 15 years at Sanofi. She was Vice President of Pharmaceutical Operations for Europe and Canada and a member of Sanofi’s Executive Committee. 

She has operated in many European countries and the US, where she led the integration of Genzyme during its acquisition. She is a member of the Board of Directors of BBVA and was a member of the Board of Directors of L’Oréal for 10 years. 

Frédéric Oudéa, Chairman of the Board of Directors, said: “Belén Garijo is a well-recognised leader in our industry with an undisputable reputation. 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, which is essential to build the Group’s future. In a rapidly changing pharmaceutical industry, we place Sanofi in experienced hands and Belén Garijo’s brilliant international career attests to her strategic vision and her ability to drive profound and value-creating transformations with a culture of rigor to serve the best interests of patients.”