Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. announced that the Company’s Board of Directors has appointed Richard Francis as President and Chief Executive Officer, effective January 1, 2023. In order to facilitate an orderly transition, Kåre Schultz and the Teva Board of Directors have mutually agreed that Mr. Schultz will retire from his current position as Chief Executive Officer, effective December 31, 2022.
Mr. Francis is a seasoned pharmaceutical executive bringing more than two and a half decades of experience to Teva, including five years as Chief Executive Officer of Sandoz and a member of the Novartis Executive Team. Prior to his role at Sandoz, Mr. Francis was a senior executive at Biogen for 13 years where he held a number of senior roles, including leading the U.S. business. He also oversaw the successful launch of Tecfidera® in 2013. Mr. Francis is currently the CEO of Purespring Therapeutics, a pioneering gene therapy company focused on transforming the treatment of kidney diseases, and CEO of Forcefield Therapeutics, a pioneer of best-in-class therapeutics to protect heart function. He is also an operating partner for Syncona Investment Management Limited.
“It has been a great privilege to serve Teva as its CEO since 2017, and to work with our dedicated and talented team to improve the lives of patients,” said Mr. Schultz. “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. 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.”
“On behalf of the entire Board, I would like to thank Kåre for his dedication and contributions to Teva over the last five years,” said Dr. Sol J. Barer, Chairman of Teva’s Board of Directors. “Under Kåre’s leadership, we have stabilized the business and undergone a significant operational transformation across our international footprint. The Company is now well positioned for an exciting future and, by leveraging Richard’s compelling track record of growing businesses in the life sciences, biologics and generic drug sectors, his entrepreneurial and pragmatic leadership style and emphasis on a collaborative and innovative culture, the Board and I are confident that Teva will build on this solid foundation. As a global enterprise, we look forward to furthering our mission to provide much needed medicines to even more patients around the world under Richard’s leadership. The Board is delighted to have found the ideal leader for the next phase in Teva’s exciting journey to return to growth and leadership.”
“I have long been impressed with the value Teva provides to patients globally and I am honored to take on the role of leading this extraordinary company into the future,” said Mr. Francis. “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. I continue to see a bright future ahead for the Company and look forward to working closely with the Board, management team and talented employees to continue driving value creation for patients, employees, shareholders and other stakeholders.”
About Richard Francis
Richard Francis is an operating Partner at Syncona, which focuses on founding, building and funding healthcare companies. Mr. Francis is the Chief Executive Officer of Syncona’s portfolio companies, Purespring Therapeutics, one of the first AAV gene therapy companies focused on the kidney globally, and Forcefield Therapeutics, a pioneer of best-in-class therapeutics to retain heart function via protection of cardiomyocytes.
Prior to his current roles, Mr. Francis spent five years as the Chief Executive Officer of Sandoz and a member of the Novartis Executive Team. During Mr. Francis’ time at Sandoz, he developed a transformative strategy to reshape the business by focusing the organization on key geographies, reshaping the portfolio and targeting efficiencies to drive growth and margin improvement. Mr. Francis held various leadership roles over a 13-year tenure at Biogen, including Senior Vice President of U.S. Commercial, Vice President / Senior Vice President of Global Commercial Strategy, Managing Director of Canada and Managing Director of the UK and Ireland. During his time at Biogen, Mr. Francis oversaw the growth of the U.S. Commercial business, driven by a strategic focus on commercial excellence. To that end, at Biogen, Mr. Francis led the successful launch of Tecfidera® in 2013. Earlier in his career, Mr. Francis worked at Sanofi and Wyeth.
Mr. Francis holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from The Manchester Metropolitan University.
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