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Sandoz Head Francis To Leave Amid Move Towards Autonomy

 
• By Aidan Fry

Sandoz’ drive to greater efficiency and stronger profit margins through a group-wide transformation process has prompted the division’s global head, Richard Francis, to step down.

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Sandoz' global head, Richard Francis, is stepping down as Novartis' generics and biosimilars division embarks on a wide-ranging transformation plan • Source: Novartis

Richard Francis, global chief executive officer of Sandoz, will step down from the position at the end of this month. He will be replaced on an ad-interim basis by Sandoz’ regional head for Europe, Francesco Balestrieri, who will report directly to parent group Novartis’ CEO, Vas Narasimhan.

Explaining his decision to resign, Francis stated: “As we announced earlier this year, Sandoz is embarking on a significant transformation. While I am excited by this, I realize that this...

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