SWITZERLAND — Novartis, a Swiss multinational pharmaceutical company has announced the appointment of Gilbert Ghostine as chairman-designate of Sandoz, the generics unit Novartis wants to spin off later this year.
The new Sandoz company will have its own board of directors one it is spun out in the second half of 2023, and Gilbert Ghostine will chair the new board.
Mr. Ghostine is a highly experienced business leader, having served as the CEO of Firmenich, the world’s largest privately owned perfume and taste company, since 2014.
He has a successful track record of growing and transforming businesses in highly competitive industries, and has held executive and senior leadership positions at Firmenich and Diageo over the course of his three-decade-long career.
In addition to his role at Sandoz, Mr. Ghostine currently serves on two other boards of directors: at Danone, where he is a member of the audit committee, and at Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, where he chairs the remuneration and nomination committee.
He holds a master’s degree in Business Administration from Saint Joseph University in Lebanon and has completed Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program.
The spin-off of Sandoz from Novartis is subject to final approval from the Novartis Board of Directors and shareholders.
Once the spin-off is complete, Sandoz will operate as a separate, independent company under the leadership of Mr. Ghostine and its new board of directors.
Meanwhile, Novartis has predicted that its core operating income will grow in the “mid-single digit” percentage range in 2023, following a year of stagnation, as the Swiss drugmaker prepares to spin off its Sandoz generics business, according to CNBC.
The company’s full-year core operating income was flat at US$16.7 billion in 2022, slightly below market expectations of US$16.8 billion.
Group sales increased by 4% to US$50.5 billion in 2022, adjusted for overall negative currency effects due to gains from heart failure drug Entresto and multiple sclerosis drug Kesimpta
Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan said the company faced challenges in the first half of 2022, including hyperinflation and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, but these challenges have begun to stabilize.
In 2022, Novartis implemented a cost-cutting program aimed at reducing expenses and cutting 8,000 jobs.
Additionally, the company announced plans to concentrate on fewer therapy areas and drug technologies.
Despite these efforts, the market has not been impressed with Novartis’ prospects for medium-term growth from new drugs, as the company’s shares have underperformed most of its rivals, declining by approximately 11% since January 2020.
Looking forward, the market is hopeful about the potential for future sales growth from wider use of Novartis’ breast cancer drug Kisqali and iptacopan, which is currently being tested against a rare genetic blood disorder, potentially challenging AstraZeneca’s drugs Soliris and Ultomiris.
Meanwhile, the company’s MS drug Kesimpta, which requires fewer injections than standard therapies, is expected to become Novartis’ second-largest growth driver in 2023, after Entresto.
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