Sanofi CFO Defends Hudson's Dupixent Legacy While Acknowledging R&D Setbacks

Sanofi CFO François Roger defended former CEO Paul Hudson's tenure, stating the company underwent 'very significant transformation' under his leadership, with revenues increasing from approximately 36 billion euros in 2019 to 46 billion euros in 20251

Hudson was pushed out in February after acknowledging that 2025 had been a 'bumpy ride' for Sanofi, which included multiple failed clinical trials including amlitelimab in asthma, balinatunfib in psoriasis, and itepekimab in COPD1

Dupixent grew to become a more than 22 billion euro drug under Hudson's leadership and represents a major success despite R&D setbacks in other programs1

CFO Roger emphasized that R&D inherently involves both successes and setbacks, and that recent achievements include venglustat's phase 3 success in Gaucher disease and lunsekimig's phase 2 respiratory study wins1

New CEO Belén Garijo, who previously led Merck KGaA, arrives next week and has been specifically charged with strengthening the productivity, governance, and innovation capacity of Sanofi's R&D division1

Sources:

1. https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/sanofi-interim-ceo-defends-hudsons-dupixent-legacy-accepts-number-setbacks-rd