GSK exec heading to Paris

Viehbacher to lead Sanofi-Aventis

Chris Viehbacher, the top executive at GlaxoSmithKline's U.S. headquarters in Research Triangle Park, has been practicing his French since accepting the chief executive position at rival drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis of France.

In recent days, he's been on numerous trans-Atlantic phone calls, all in French, Viehbacher said. On Wednesday, he read what Le Figaro, France's leading daily, and Les Echos, the Financial Times' French affiliate, had to say about him.

After being passed over for the top job at GSK last year, Viehbacher, 48, will replace Gerard Le Fur, who was ousted as Sanofi-Aventis' CEO after just 18 months. Le Fur will continue in an advisory role.

Opportunity knocks

"It's another new chapter opening," Viehbacher said Wednesday afternoon, calling Sanofi-Aventis' offer an opportunity that doesn't come around often.

GSK announced Monday that Viehbacher was leaving after 20 years with the company and had resigned from GSK's board of directors. Officially, Viehbacher will remain on the payroll until Dec. 1, the day his new job in Paris starts.

But he walked out of his RTP office for the last time Wednesday.

Viehbacher, who declined to discuss his old or new jobs, said he plans to read a lot and work outside before he moves. He called the next few weeks a "garden leave."

At Sanofi-Aventis, Viehbacher has his work cut out for him, said Linda Bannister, an Edward Jones analyst who tracks both companies. "The next few years will really be challenging."

To bolster its drug pipeline, Sanofi-Aventis could look to this country, Bannister said. And Viehbacher could use his in-depth U.S. experience to boost Sanofi-Aventis' sales here, which made up about one-third of annual revenue last year. GSK gets about half of its annual sales from the U.S.

Most large drugmakers are struggling with generic competition, tighter regulatory scrutiny and the scarcity of research successes. Several, including GSK and Sanofi-Aventis, are losing sales and cutting jobs and other costs.

Threat to revenue

Getting new drugs to market to replace drugs that are losing patent protection and going generic is Sanofi-Aventis' biggest challenge, Bannister said. The drugmaker's top two blockbuster sellers, blood thinners Lovenox and Plavix, are under pressure.

Over the next five years, Sanofi-Aventis stands to lose about 52 percent of its revenue to cheaper, generic competitors, according to an Edward Jones analysis.

"That's the largest patent exposure in the industry," Bannister said.

Pfizer and GSK follow in second place, each with about 48 percent of their revenue at risk.

Investors were pleased with Viehbacher becoming Sanofi-Aventis' new CEO. The company's American depositary receipts, which are like stock, rose 5.7 percent, closing at $35.45 Wednesday.

Viehbacher, who has German and Canadian citizenship, said he is looking forward to moving back to Paris. He and his family lived there from 1995 to 2002 when he ran GSK's European pharmaceutical business. In 2003, France awarded him the Legion d'Honneur for his contributions to business and health care.

The move to Paris will be his and his wife's fifth across the Atlantic in 21 years of marriage, but Viehbacher expected that he and his family will be in the U.S. a lot.

He and his wife plan to buy an apartment in Paris, but they will keep their house in Raleigh. That was comforting to his 14-year-old son, who's a fan of North Carolina sports. His oldest daughter attends Georgetown University, and his younger daughter also wants to attend a U.S. university.

"We'll be between barbecue and croissants," Viehbacher said.