Sanofi’s US pharma head joins Synta as CEO

Synta Pharmaceuticals has named the former head of Sanofi's pharma operations in the US and Canada as its new CEO.

Anne Whitaker served as president, North America pharmaceuticals, at Sanofi since September 2011 overseeing all pharma and consumer healthcare operations within the region. She also served as a member of Sanofi's global leadership team, global commercial operations committee and US regional management committee.

She now leads an emerging US-based biopharma focused on the development of small molecule drugs to treat patients with severe medical conditions, including cancer and chronic inflammatory diseases.

“Synta presents an exciting opportunity defined by a late stage product, ganetespib, that has shown promising activity in multiple indications and a pre-clinical programme, HDC, that has significant potential to generate new drug candidates,” said Whitaker.

Prior to joining Sanofi in 2011, Whitaker spent nearly two decades at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), progressing through the ranks to eventually hold a senior VP role. She began her career at Delta Communications before joining the Upjohn Company in 1991 as a metabolic disease specialist.