Recently appointed Sanofi CEO Belén Garijo has stamped her mark on the organization, hiring former Roche executive Paulo Fontoura, M.D., Ph.D., to replace Houman Ashrafian, Ph.D., as the head of the company’s stuttering R&D group.
Garijo, who rejoined Sanofi in late April, started as CEO in the aftermath of a series of R&D setbacks. Paul Hudson, the former CEO, and Ashrafian acknowledged the failures in their final months at Sanofi. The departed CEO framed the “bumpy ride” as a result of trying to “do things that had never been done before.” Ashrafian said he was “pretty pragmatic” about a “mixed” year of clinical development.
Both executives were gone within one year of their comments. Ashrafian has decided to pursue an opportunity outside the company, Sanofi said in a Monday, June 22 statement. Fontoura will replace Ashrafian as head of pharma R&D on Sept. 1.
Sanofi has lured Fontoura away from Xaira Therapeutics, a startup that exited stealth in 2024 with $1 billion and ambitions to transform R&D using AI. Fontoura was Xaira’s founding chief medical officer. The physician-scientist secured the job on the back of 16 years at Roche that ended in a stint as global head of clinical development for neuroscience, immunology, ophthalmology, infectious and rare diseases.
Xaira’s areas of focus include inflammatory and immunological science. Fontoura called Sanofi a leader in immunology in a statement about the appointment, adding that the French drugmaker has “built strong positions in several other areas of significant unmet medical need.”
Fontoura inherits a pipeline that is scheduled to deliver a series of phase 3 readouts next year after a quiet 2026. The remaining amlitelimab phase 3 atopic dermatitis trials will report data this year, beyond which the slate includes late-phase data on multiple sclerosis prospect frexalimab. However, the lineup for 2027 was recently weakened by Sanofi’s decision to stop a phase 3 autoimmune trial early for futility.
The phase 3 setback added to a string of mixed readouts and outright failures that hurt Sanofi’s efforts to diversify beyond Dupixent, the multi-indication blockbuster that could face biosimilar competition from 2031. The FDA rejected a request for approval of tolebrutinib in multiple sclerosis late last year. Readouts on other assets in psoriasis, atopic dermatitis and lung disease have been mixed, at best.
Fontoura could have the option to replenish the pipeline through dealmaking. Last month, Guggenheim Securities analysts said in a note to investors that Sanofi has capacity to spend 15 billion euros ($17 billion) on deals this year. The analysts, who shared the note after speaking to executives including Ashrafian, said Sanofi showed more interest in small- to medium-size deals for phase 1 or phase 2 assets.