The sudden departure stands in contrast to other EU pharma leaders who have been given much longer transitions in recent months, including GSK’s Emma Walmsley and Novo Nordisk’s Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen.
Sanofi’s Paul Hudson, who has been heading the venerable pharma’s transition into a modern vaccine company, has been removed from his post after seven years. Merck KGaA’s Belén Garijo will take his place.
Hudson is expected to leave his post at the end of the day on Feb. 17, with Garijo assuming her role at the end of April. For now, Executive VP of General Medicine Olivier Charmeil, will serve as interim CEO.
Sanofi Board Chairman Frédéric Oudéa wished Hudson well in a statement posted Thursday morning.
The swift departure stands in stark contrast to other EU pharma leaders who have been given much longer transitions. GSK’s CEO Emma Walmsley replacement was announced in September last year, but she stayed for three months before stepping aside at the beginning of this year to make way for Luke Miels. She is remaining with the company in a consulting role through September of this year.
Novo Nordisk ousted Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen in May 2025 but left him in charge while it searched for a replacement. Maziar Mike Doustdar ultimately landed the role two months later.
Sanofi’s shares declined 5% to $46.77 in pre-market trading on Thursday morning.
Belén Garijo at the World Economic Forum, 2023
Sandra Blaser/Flickr
Vaccines in Flux
Hudson presented the company’s earnings at the end of January, projecting confidence in Sanofi’s transition into a modern R&D powerhouse fueled by AI innovation. He has been a stalwart defender of vaccines for public health, telling reporters at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in January that pressure from U.S. officials presented a buying opportunity for interested companies.
Sanofi did just that at the end of 2025, buying Dynavax for $2.2 billion to add the hepatitis B vaccine Heplisav-B. That deal closed this week.
Despite Hudson’s efforts, Sanofi’s sales have slid, particularly in the vaccine division, amid growing skepticism over routine inoculations in the U.S. market. The company reported a 2.5% year-on-year sales decline in January, with 2025 vaccine revenue of €2 billion ($2.44 billion). Sanofi’s COVID-19 portfolio, however, had a strong showing, with a 31.5% increase compared to the year before.
Overall, Sanofi’s sales increased 9.9% to €43.63 billion ($52.3 billion), thanks in large part to anti-inflammatory megablockbuster Dupixent. The company predicted high-single-digit percentage growth in 2026.
Nevertheless, Hudson will not be the one to oversee that growth the next year.
A New CEO Rises
Garijo will become one of two women in charge of a major large-cap pharma company. Takeda’s Julie Kim will join the ranks later this year when she takes over the Japanese pharma.
Garijo has served as CEO of Merck KGaA since 2021. The job at Sanofi will represent a return home. A Spanish doctor, she began her career working in a hospital before jumping to the pharma world at Abbott and then spending 15 years at Sanofi. While at Sanofi, she oversaw the integration of Genzyme, which, at the time of its 2011 acquisition, was one of the largest biotechs in the world, with a focus on rare genetic disorders, immunology and oncology.
“She is a well-recognized leader in our industry with an undisputable reputation,” Oudéa said in a statement. “She knows the Sanofi Group very well, where she has held important positions and achieved many successes for 15 years.”
Garijo is expected to bring “an increased rigor to the implementation of Sanofi’s strategy and accelerate the preparation of the Group’s future,” according to the company’s news release. She will be tasked with strengthening productivity, governance and innovation of the R&D organization.
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