Daiichi Sankyo has appointed Martin Hesse to be its new European chief financial officer (CFO) with effect from October, 1.
He will succeed Max Schöner, who retires on December, 31 after 12-years in the role, and joins Daiichi Sankyo Europe from Bayer, where he had served since 1984.
Hesse was most recently chief administration officer excellence at Bayer Healthcare, having previously held a series of senior roles that included VP of corporate auditing and CFO for Eastern Europe.
Daiichi Sankyo Europe’s CEO Reinhard Bauer said: “We are excited that we could fill the position with such an expert.
“Daiichi Sankyo Europe is playing an increasingly important role within the group. It will be a major contributor in our effort to generate the bigger part of our group sales outside Japan. In his former positions, Hesse has proven his ability to achieve ambitious goals like these.”
Commenting on the environment in which he starts at Daiichi, Hesse said securing the company’s profitability and competitiveness in the light of drug pricing interventions will a major challenge.
“We’ll have to come to terms with every mandatory discount. The key will be to skilfully combine cost reductions with strategic decisions.”