Sanofi and Takeda Pharmaceuticals both unveiled changes at their respective CFO positions Thursday.
Sanofi announced François-Xavier Roger will succeed Jean-Baptiste Chasseloup as CFO on April 1 and join the drugmaker’s executive committee as part of the move. Chasseloup is stepping down to become head of Apprentis d’Auteuil, a nonprofit based in France.
“It is with great enthusiasm that I join Sanofi in this dynamic moment marked by significant transformation. I am excited by the opportunity to further improve patient outcomes and deliver increased shareholder value in the years to come,” Roger said in a statement.
In addition to its leadership changes, Sanofi released its latest earnings report, highlighted by strong sales growth at the end of 2023.
In Q4 2023, sales grew 9.3% at constant exchange rates (CER), hitting €10.9 billion, while its business earnings per share (EPS) increased 8.2% at CER. However, the drugmaker reported a quarterly net loss of €555 million and a negative EPS of €0.44.
For the full year, Sanofi’s net sales topped €43 billion, growing at 5.3% at CER, while its net income was recorded at €5.4 billion and EPS settled at €4.31.
Looking to 2024, Sanofi said it expects its business EPS to remain “roughly stable” between -3.5% to -4.5%, excluding the impact of an expected effective tax rate increase to 21% and decrease low single-digits at CER including the higher expected tax rate.
“2023 marked a critical year on our journey to become a development-driven, tech-powered biopharma company committed to serving patients and accelerating growth. We have delivered another year of strong underlying performance of our core drivers in Specialty Care and Vaccines supported by the outstanding launch execution of Beyfortus, Altuviiio and Tzield,” Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson said in a statement. “With scientific news flow at an all-time high, pipeline advances and 12 potential blockbusters in late-stage development including amlitelimab, frexalimab and tolebrutinib, our R&D transformation has reached an inflection point on the road to industry leadership in immunology. Looking forward, we remain committed to investing in R&D to fully unlock the value of our pipeline, powered by AI at scale, and continue to focus on our expected launch opportunities such as Dupixent in COPD. At the same time, we are taking steps to become a pure-play biopharma company with more than €10bn sales contribution from Pharma launches by 2030(4).”
The latest insight on Sanofi’s performance comes less than two months after Hudson’s call at the company’s R&D day for investor support behind a pipeline brimming with a dozen potential “blockbuster” drugs.
“We are making decisive choices to deliver breakthrough medicines and long-term value for all of our stakeholders,” Hudson said in a statement at the time.
Meanwhile, at Takeda, Costa Saroukos has decided to step down from his post as CFO on April 1 in order to be closer to his family in Australia.
He will remain with the Japanese company as a board director until June 28 and will be succeeded by Milano Furuta, president of Takeda’s Japan pharma business unit, reporting to CEO Christophe Weber. Furuta will also be proposed as a member of the board of directors.
“I am honored and excited to take on the role of CFO of Takeda. I wish Costa all the best on his return to Australia and I look forward to building on his legacy and contributing to Takeda as a global, values-based, R&D-driven biopharmaceutical leader,” Furuta said in a statement.
Like Sanofi, Takeda also announced its latest earnings, which was a mixed bag on the financial end.
The drugmaker’s quarterly revenues rose 4.6% year-over-year to 3.2 trillion yen, but otherwise most metrics dropped, some by double digits. Its operating profit fell 44.2% to 224.1 billion yen, net profit sank 48.6% to 147.1 billion yen and its EPS of 94 yen represented a 48.9% decrease.
Heading into the final quarter of its fiscal year, Takeda expects its revenue to hit 3.9 trillion yen, its reported operating profit to reach 225 billion yen and its reported EPS to be 59 yen.
“In FY2023 Q3 we made further progress in our vision to discover and deliver life-transforming treatments, receiving two new U.S. FDA approvals and broadening the reach of our existing portfolio with multiple life-cycle management approvals for our Growth & Launch Products,” Saroukos said in a statement. “We remain on track towards our full-year Management Guidance at CER, reflecting significant generic impact, lower coronavirus vaccines revenue and investment in R&D and data, digital and technology to secure our long-term competitiveness, as well as continued strong momentum in our Growth & Launch Products.”
One highlight for Takeda on the regulatory front during the last quarter of 2023 was the Food and Drug Administration greenlighting Fruzaqla, a biomarker-agnostic pill for refractory metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC).
Additionally, Takeda and Protagonist Therapeutics entered into a worldwide license and collaboration agreement for rusfertide, a late-stage rare hematology asset. As part of the agreement, Takeda will make a $300 million upfront payment at closing and Protagonist will be eligible for additional milestone payments down the line.
For a February 2024 article on Sanofi making cancer support for employees a global right, click here.
