Drug Maker Sanofi Fires CEO
Sanofi is one of the world’s top pharmaceutical companies,has fired CEO Christopher A. Viehbacher amid tensions over the company’s international strategy.
The New York Times reported that Serge Weinberg, the chairman, will serve as chief executive until a replacement is found.
Viehbacher focused the French company more on international business. He also was a major force in Sanofi’s embrace of biotechnology, helping engineer the takeover of Genzyme, an American biotechnology company, for $20.1 billion — a deal widely seen as a success for Sanofi.
That acquisition gave Sanofi a presence in the Boston area, a hot spot for pharmaceutical research because of the universities and biotechnology companies there. He made efforts to shift more of Sanofi’s research there and personally moved to Boston this year, the Times reported.
But those actions led to dissatisfaction among labor unions and some government officials in France, who were concerned about a loss of jobs in their country.
