Roche has shaken up its senior management, replacing retiring executives with a younger crop of managers. (Read the details from Roche here.)
Roche said earlier this year that 62-year-old Bill Burns, head of the pharma division, would step down at the end of 2009. Today, Roche tells us the man replacing him is Pascal Soriot, who has recently led Genentech’s integration into Roche.
Soriot is a Frenchman who trained as a veterinary surgeon. The 50-year-old has risen quickly at Roche since joining the company a few years ago from Sanofi-Aventis. But he has big shoes to fill. Burns led a long period of growth at the pharma division, and has been a favorite with analysts and investors, who say they appreciate his straightforward manner and wit.
A Scot, Burns has long been one of the more colorful characters at the reserved Swiss company. The Health Blog caught one of his wittier quips during Roche’s second-quarter results presentation in July, when he pooh-poohed the industry’s new focus on selling low-cost generic drugs in emerging markets.
“Several of our competitors are talking about the emerging markets as if they have discovered a new vegetable,” Burns told analysts gathered in London. “We have been there a long time,” he said, with “modern, high-tech products making a real difference in medicine. We are not looking to license in other people’s tail-end products and pretend that it is a strategy.”
Burns is stepping down from day-to-day management, but will be nominated to join Roche’s board at the annual meeting next year.
Photo: Associated Press
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