About two months into CEO Belén Garijo’s new tenure, Sanofi’s R&D chief has departed, with Xaira’s chief medical officer set to take charge of the pharma’s pipeline.
Sanofi has selected Xaira Therapeutics’ Chief Medical Officer Paulo Fontoura to serve as R&D head as Houman Ashrafian hits the exit.
Fontoura will step into his new role as EVP and global head of R&D pharma starting Sept. 1, according to a Monday press release. He will report to CEO Belén Garijo, who succeeded Paul Hudson in April as Sanofi prepares for a major revenue gap expected once immunology blockbuster Dupixent’s patent expires in 2031.
The incoming-R&D leader will take the place of Ashrafian, who was with Sanofi less than three years and has “decided to pursue an opportunity outside the company,” according to the French drugmaker.
The move has not surprised analysts, with Leerink Partners citing “recent R&D disappointments and new CEO Belen Garijo’s agenda to enhance Sanofi’s pipeline prospects,” in a Monday note to investors.
Earlier this month, Sanofi canned its late-stage complement inhibitor drug in chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy. A few months before that, in February, the pharma reported split results for a pair of Phase 3 trials testing its rare disease drug venglustat, with success in Gaucher disease but failure in Fabry disease.
Fontoura is a neurologist who mostly recently held a post at AI-driven Xaira Therapeutics. While little is known about the startup’s pipeline, the company emerged in 2024 with a whopping $1 billion to discover and develop new therapeutics for hard-to-treat conditions. Before that, Fontoura clocked in more than 15 years at Roche across a range of senior leadership positions.
“I am thrilled to join Sanofi at such an exciting moment,” Fontoura said in a prepared statement. “In recent years, Sanofi has established a leadership position in immunology and built strong positions in several other areas of significant unmet medical need, while demonstrating a clear commitment to scientific innovation and AI-powered transformation.”
Sanofi has set out to “become the first biopharma company powered by AI at scale,” using AI across R&D, manufacturing and supply. The big pharma touts an “AI Centre of Excellence” in Toronto and most recently poured $294 million to expand jobs at the site.
Editor’s note (June 22): This story was updated from its original version to include comments from Leerink Partners.
