AstraZeneca PLC’s reliance on consensus-building has resulted in a conservative approach to decision-making that its new CEO says has hobbled the drug maker’s R&D productivity. But investors anxious for transformational changes to emerge from CEO Pascal Soriot’s ongoing strategic review of the troubled big pharma will have to wait until March for any stock-rallying pronouncements. Soriot is planning to shed more light on plans to reenergize AstraZeneca during an investor day slated for March 21 in New York.
But during the company’s year-end sales and earnings call Jan. 31, he did reaffirm his confidence in the long-term fundamentals of the company, outline several key near-term priorities and offer his takeaways on what has contributed to the company’s lack of R&D productivity, based on discussions with hundreds of employees