Belén Garijo to Replace Paul Hudson as Head of Sanofi
Sanofi has announced that its Board of Directors, meeting on February 11, has decided not to renew Paul Hudson's term as a board member. As a result, he will step down from his role as Chief Executive Officer on the evening of February 17.
On the recommendation of the Nominations Committee, the Board has appointed Belén Garijo as Chief Executive Officer. She will assume her duties following the Annual General Meeting on April 29, 2026. Her candidacy as a board member will also be proposed.
In the meantime, Olivier Charmeil, Executive Vice President for General Medicines and a member of the Executive Committee since 2011, will serve as interim CEO of the French healthcare giant.
A Spanish national, Belén Garijo joined the German group Merck KGaA in 2011 and was appointed CEO in 2021, becoming the first woman to lead a DAX 40 company in Germany.
Tasked with "bringing greater rigor to the implementation of Sanofi's strategy and accelerating its future readiness," her top priorities will be to strengthen productivity, governance, and the innovation capacity of the company's R&D.
Mr. Paul Hudson is a Chief Executive Officer & Director at Sanofi, a Chairman at Novartis Pharma KK and a Chief Executive Officer & Director at Sanofi Clir SENC. He is on the Board of Directors at Sanofi and Sanofi Clir SENC. Mr. Hudson was previously employed as a Chief Executive Officer by Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp., a President-AstraZeneca US & EVP-North America by AstraZeneca Plc, a President by AstraZéneca Farmacéutica Spain SA, a President & Director by AstraZeneca KK, a Member-Executive Committee by Novartis AG, and a Head-Global Marketing by Schering Plough Holdings France SAS. He received his undergraduate degree from Manchester Metropolitan University of.
Sanofi is the largest European pharmaceutical group. Net sales by family of products break down as follows:
- pharmaceutical products (81.8%): prescription drugs for the treatment of multiple sclerosis, neurological diseases, inflammatory diseases, autoimmune diseases, rare diseases, cancers and rare hematological diseases;
- human vaccines (18.2%): pediatric vaccines, vaccines for flu, meningitis, and polio, booster vaccines, and vaccines for travelers and endemic areas.
At the end of 2025, the group had 37 production sites worldwide.
Net sales are distributed geographically as follows: France (3.9%), Europe (17.1%), the United States (50.8%), China (6%) and other (22.2%).
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