In recent news, Novartis Chief Executive Joseph Jimenez is going to be retiring in 2018. Starting in February, 2018 Vasant Narasimhan, the chief drug developer for the company, will take over as CEO. Jimenez is stepping down after a decade of service at Novartis and after securing U.S. approval for a new gene therapy for leukemia.
As Jimenez said, “After 10 wonderful years in Switzerland, my family is ready to return to Silicon Valley and the United States.”
Narasimhan has been with Novartis since 2005 and became global head of drug development and chief medical officer in 2016. Chairman Joerg Reinhardt said “Vas is deeply anchored in medical science, has significant experience in managing the interfaces between research and development and commercial units and has strong business acumen with a track record of outstanding achievements.”