Sobi’s Bo Jesper Hansen is to step down as chairman of the board, a role he has held since the merger of Biovitrum and Swedish Orphan International in 2010.
Hansen joined Swedish Orphan International AB in 1993 and served as its chief executive officer between 1998 and 2010. He has also been a medical advisor to Pfizer, Pharmacia and Yanaouchi and founded Scandinavian Medical Research.
In a statement, Sobi credited Hansen with growing the specialty healthcare company into an “international pioneer in rare diseases with a strong commercial footprint across Europe, North America, the Middle East and Russia”.
Hansen’s proposed replacement is Håkan Björklund, who currently serves as private equity firm Avista Capital Partners’ healthcare industry executive.
Björklund served as chief executive officer at Nycomed until 2011 and oversaw its growth from a largely Scandinavian business into a global pharmaceutical company operating across Europe, Latin America and Russia.
He has also served as a member of several firms’ board of directors, including Alere, Coloplast, Danisco, Lundbeck and Biovitrum.
Björklund’s appointment as chairman will be announced after the company’s annual shareholder meeting later this year.