Sanofi S.A.
Leadership History
4 leaders · 2015 to present
Belén Garijo is the CEO of Sanofi, in the role since 2026. The first chief executive was Olivier Brandicourt, from 2015.
| Name | Role | From | To | Years in role |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belén Garijo | Chief Executive Officer | 2026 | Present | < 1 |
| Olivier Charmeil | Interim Chief Executive Officer | 2026 | 2026 | < 1 |
| Paul Hudson | Former Chief Executive Officer | 2019 | 2026 | 7 |
| Olivier Brandicourt | Chief Executive Officer | 2015 | 2019 | 4 |
Sanofi S.A. is headquartered in Paris and listed on Euronext Paris (SAN) and Nasdaq (SNY ADRs). It employed 74,846 people at the end of 2025. The company sells Dupixent with Regeneron, the infant RSV antibody Beyfortus with AstraZeneca, a large influenza and pediatric vaccine portfolio, rare disease enzyme therapies from Genzyme, and older medicines such as Lantus, Toujeo, Plavix and Lovenox. The company is headquartered in Paris, France.
Sanofi makes money by developing, manufacturing and selling prescription medicines and vaccines to hospitals, pharmacies, wholesalers, insurers and government health systems. In 2025 its ~$49.3 billion (EUR43.6 billion) of net sales broke down into Dupixent (~$17.7 billion (EUR15.7 billion)), pharma launches such as ALTUVIIIO and Ayvakit (~$4.41 billion (EUR3.9 billion)), vaccines (~$8.93 billion (EUR7.9 billion)) and other established medicines (~$18.2 billion (EUR16.1 billion)). The United States generated ~$25.1 billion (EUR22.2 billion) and Europe ~$10.4 billion (EUR9.2 billion). Dupixent profits are shared with Regeneron under their long-running antibody collaboration.
Chief Executive Officer
2026 – Present
0 years (current)
In her first results as CEO (Q2 2026), Garijo halted amlitelimab's global regulatory filing, discontinued itepekimab and balinatunfib, and raised 2026 guidance.
The board hired her to strengthen execution discipline and capital allocation. She previously led Merck KGaA and worked at Sanofi for 15 years.
Interim Chief Executive Officer
2026 – 2026
0 years
Executive vice president for General Medicines who served as interim CEO from February 17, 2026 until Garijo took over.
Provided continuity during the leadership transition.
Former Chief Executive Officer
2019 – 2026
7 years
Launched 'Play to Win', exited most diabetes and cardiovascular research, scaled Dupixent and Beyfortus, and separated Opella.
Grew Dupixent into a ~$17.7B (EUR15.7B) product; the board did not renew his mandate in February 2026 amid concerns over pipeline productivity.
Chief Executive Officer
2015 – 2019
4 years
Olivier Brandicourt served as chief executive of Sanofi S.A. from 2015 to 2019.
Sanofi's main challenges are its dependence on Dupixent, which made up about 36% of 2025 net sales and faces eventual loss of exclusivity in the next decade, a pipeline that suffered setbacks in 2026 (amlitelimab will not go to global filing, and itepekimab and balinatunfib were dropped), softer influenza vaccine demand, and US and European drug pricing pressure.
Paul Hudson has served as Chief Executive Officer of Sanofi since September 1, 2019, leading the company through its "Play to Win" strategic overhaul and record Dupixent expansion.
A native of the UK and graduate of Manchester Metropolitan University, Paul Hudson spent three decades in global pharma, serving as President of AstraZeneca North America and CEO of Novartis Pharmaceuticals (2016-2019), where he drove major immunology and oncology blockbuster launches.
Jean-François Dehecq was the legendary founding CEO of Sanofi, leading the company for over 30 years from its birth inside Elf Aquitaine in 1973 until 2006 (and Chairman until 2010). Dehecq was the charismatic architect who executed the takeovers of Synthélabo in 1999 and Aventis in 2004.
Christopher Viehbacher, former GlaxoSmithKline executive, served as CEO from 2008 to 2014. He orchestrated the transformative $20.1 billion acquisition of Genzyme and expanded the Regeneron antibody partnership, before being ousted by the board over disagreements regarding management style and French labor policies.
Dr. Olivier Brandicourt (former CEO of Bayer Healthcare) served as CEO from 2015 to 2019. He stabilized operations following Lantus patent cliffs, executed a $25 billion asset swap with Boehringer Ingelheim (exchanging animal health Merial for consumer healthcare), and paved the way for Dupixent's launch.
Frédéric Oudéa, prominent French banker and long-time former CEO of Société Générale, has served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sanofi since May 2023, succeeding Serge Weinberg.
The Executive Committee is chaired by Paul Hudson and includes Houman Ashrafian (Head of R&D), Thomas Triomphe (Executive VP Vaccines), Brian Foard (Head of Specialty Care), Olivier Charmeil (Head of General Medicines), and François-Xavier Roger (Chief Financial Officer).
Hudson is known for bold, candid communication, decisive prioritization, breaking down corporate bureaucracy, and instilling high-performance scientific accountability, challenging European pharma's historically conservative risk culture.
François-Xavier Roger was appointed Chief Financial Officer of Sanofi in April 2024, joining after an acclaimed eight-year tenure as CFO of Nestlé, bringing world-class discipline in capital allocation and cost optimization.
Paul Hudson was named Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur by the French government in 2022 and has been consistently recognized across European media as one of the most transformative leaders in global life sciences.
The Board of Directors maintains a balanced international composition of distinguished scientific, financial, and industrial leaders, working closely with the French government to maintain domestic sovereign vaccine production while expanding primary R&D in Boston and Cambridge.
Hudson envisions Sanofi standing as the undisputed world leader in immunology and preventative medicine, generating billions from a new wave of post-Dupixent blockbusters and deploying mRNA vaccines against multiple infectious diseases.
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