AstraZeneca hopes new chief can give it a shot in the arm

AstraZeneca has poached Pascal Soriot from rival Roche Holding to be its new chief executive, hoping his experience with biotech drugs and deal-making can revive a company battered by clinical trial failures and patent expiries.

• AstraZeneca appoint Pascal Soriot as chief executive

• Soriot joins from rival drug firm Roche

Soriot, 53, a French national, has been chief operating officer since 2010 of Roche’s pharmaceuticals division – a business with a turnover of about $34 billion (£21bn), making it the same size as AstraZeneca. He will take up his new job on 1 October.

AstraZeneca chairman Leif Johansson said Soriot’s arriving by this date would allow him to take part in an important strategy review, which will be completed by the middle or end of the fourth quarter though it will not change the group’s progressive dividend policy.

Anglo-Swedish drug maker AstraZeneca has been without a permanent chief executive since 1 June, following the abrupt departure of David Brennan, who was criticised by investors for failing to do enough to shore up the group as a wave of drug patents expired.

The appointment is a blow to Simon Lowth, the company’s chief financial officer and its interim chief executive, who was also considered a candidate to take on the post permanently.

Astra said Lowth would resume his duties as finance chief and continue to serve as an executive director, although there is likely to be speculation over how long he will remain with the company now.

Navid Malik, an analyst at Cenkos Securities, said Soriot’s arrival was good news for AstraZeneca and could signal a move towards greater involvement in fast-growing biotech medicine.

Malik said: “He will be looking to make significant changes, including reviewing the pipeline and doing more deals.

“He’ll have to work fast because there’s an uphill struggle now to grow sales in the face of major patent losses.”

Britain’s second-biggest drug maker has suffered repeated drug development setbacks, stoking fears about its long-term prospects given the loss of exclusivity on key medicines, which exposes the group to generic competition and declining sales.
Roche, by contrast, has had a successful record of drug development and Soriot has been at the centre of that innovation as a former head of Genentech, where he oversaw the integration of the US biotech unit after Roche acquired full control.

Vontobel analyst Andrew Weiss said Soriot – who worked for firms that later became part of Sanofi before joining Roche in 2006 – had strong expertise in consolidating and restructuring business, which would be valuable at AstraZeneca.

Shares in the UK group dipped 15p to 2,966.5p.