BioSpace Poll Correctly Predicted New Sanofi CEO, Even Naming Correct Candidate

February 23, 2015
By Riley McDermid, BioSpace.com Breaking News Sr. Editor

The BioSpace community did something Wall Street could not: It accurately predicted who the next CEO of French drugmaker Sanofi would be, right down to the correct name. The results of the poll showed that BioSpace's readers predicted Olivier Brandicourt would be crowned king, as well as that the eventual final candidate would be French, male and from Big Pharma (Brandicourt is leaving Bayer to take up the role).

In last week's BioSpace’s fourth Biotech Temperature Poll, most of the 411 respondents polled said they believe the Sanofi would undoubtedly name a compatriot to the top spot, with 70 percent polled said they were confident the new choice would be French.



When asked if they thought the new exec would be male, an overwhelming 86 percent said yes. Only 14 percent though thought the new CEO would be a woman.



When asked where Sanofi might find their new chief executive, 80 percent said from a similarly sized Big Pharma company, while 20 percent thought the choice will come from a smaller company.



But most importantly? For potential candidates, 45 percent thought Bayer exec Olivier Brandicourt will become Sanofi’s new CEO, 35 percent thought Eric Cornut, from Novartis, will be, and 20 percent polled named Sanofi’s own Karen Linehan as the top prospect.



The majority of the respondents in this week’s poll were from the United States, with 76 percent of the 411 participants based in America. The rest hailed from a host of countries including Japan, Germany, France, Canada, Switzerland, Singapore, Sweden, Austria, Turkey, Denmark, Australia, Romania, Vietnam, South Africa, The Philippines, Thailand, Spain, Aruba, Greece, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Two percent of respondents declined to identify their country of domicile.

For states, California led the pack, with 18 percent of the poll’s respondents based in that state. New Jersey followed with 15 percent, then Massachusetts at 13 percent. The rest were distributed throughout the U.S.

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BioSpace Temperature Poll
Analyst Mark Schoenebaum, a biotech and pharmaceuticals analyst and medical doctor for ISI Group Evercore, has been running a Best Hair in Biopharma contest for several months now. So far, the candidates are Bristol-Myers Squibb Company's John Elicker, Receptos’ Chief Executive Officer Faheem Hasnain, Celgene's Vice President of Investor Relations Patrick Flanigan and Acorda Therapeutics' Ron Cohen.

We want to know what our BioSpace community thinks: Who do you believe actually has the Best Hair in BioPharma?