Teva Pharmaceuticals announced Monday morning that it has appointed Richard Francis, a longtime executive at Biogen, as CEO effective January 1, 2023.

Francis, who currently serves as CEO of Purespring Therapeutics as well as Forcefield Therapeutics, was a senior executive at Biogen for more than a dozen years and served as the CEO of Sandoz for five years. He is also an operating partner at Syncona.

While at Biogen, Francis rose to leading the company’s U.S. business and oversaw the launch of Tecfidera. According to Biogen’s most recent earnings report, Tecfidera generated $339 million in total revenue during Q3 2022. 

As part of Teva’s succession plan, current CEO Kåre Schultz will retire at the end of the year, the company announced, following five years at the helm of the Israeli pharmaceutical giant. In a statement, he called his tenure a “great privilege” as the company strived to “improve the lives of patients.”

“We have positioned Teva as a leader in both our specialty and generics businesses, built a strong financial and operational foundation and enhanced our portfolio and pipeline,” Schultz said in a statement. “This is the right time for a transition, and Richard’s proven track record in the industry makes him the right person to serve as Teva’s next CEO.”

Francis said he’s eager to lead “this extraordinary company” into the future.

“I look forward to leveraging my background and years of pharmaceutical experience to build on Teva’s strong fundamentals and to write the next exciting chapter for Teva, focusing on building a solid pathway to deliver long-term growth,” Francis said in a statement.

Teva made the CEO announcement less than three weeks after unveiling its latest earnings report. During Q3, the company recorded an 8% year-over-year drop in revenues from generic products in its North American segment, a 7% decline in operating income and an adjusted EBITDA that fell 7%. 

The other Biogen connection to the Teva news is that the company announced less than two weeks ago that former Sanofi CEO Christopher Viehbacher will serve as its next CEO. Viehbacher, who spent 20 years at GSK before a six-year stint at the helm of Sanofi, will replace outgoing CEO Michel Vounatsos, who like Schultz had led his respective pharma company since 2017.