Sanofi poaches Peugeot's finance head

Sanofi has appointed car maker Peugeot's finance director Jean-Baptiste Chasseloup de Chatillon to take over as its new chief financial officer.

Chasseloup de Chatillon will join the French drug maker as its executive vice president and chief financial officer from 1 October, when he will succeed Jérome Contamine, who is set to retire at the end of September.

Chasseloup de Chatillon most recently served in a similar position for PSA Group, a French car manufacturer comprising of the Peugeot, Citroen and Vauxhall brands to name a few.

There, he played a crucial part in reviving the business after a very close call with bankruptcy back in 2012.

Sanofi’s chief executive Olivier Brandicourt says Chasseloup de Chatillon will be of “great value” to the company after his involvement in the “impressive” turnaround of PSA Group.

It seems that Sanofi, which is currently restructuring the business by trimming costs, is also targeting financial prosperity with this hire, following its unstable start to 2018.

The group saw sales from its diabetes blockbuster Lantus (insulin glargine) plummet 18% to €911m (1.1bn) in the first quarter, quite a difference from the drug’s peak in 2014, when it reached a high of $8.5bn.

However it has made some promising new acquisitions this year, including haemophilia and blood disorder specialists Bioverativ, which it bought for $11.6bn.

It also made a play for nanobody focused biopharma Ablynx, which it acquired for €3.9bn, along with its lead candidate and orphan drug caplacizumab for rare blood disorder acquired thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (aTTP).

On top of this, Sanofi is also re-shaping its pipeline after it made a deal to transfer its anti-invectives unit to biotech Evotec.

The French pharma giant will be highlighting its future plans and ongoing business transformation at its second quarter results on 31 July.