Sandoz, Richard Saynor
Reported in its first quarter financials, Novartis appointed Richard Saynor as CEO of its generics business, Sandoz. In this position, he will also become a member of the executive committee of Novartis, reporting to Vas Narasimhan, CEO of Novartis.
Saynor will arrive at the business already knowing it well, after having worked at Sandoz for five years until 2010, as its regional head for Asia Pacific and as part of the Sandoz executive committee. Saynor is set to join the business on August 1, 2019.
For the last nine years, he has been working at GSK, as the company’s SVP and global head of classic and established medicines. In this position, he manages $10bn (€8.9bn) worth of assets across 120 countries.
Prior to Sandoz and GSK, he worked at Generics UK, part of Mylan, and is a trained pharmacist.
Saynor will enter the role during a period of uncertainty regarding the future of the Sandoz business within the overall Novartis structure.
In the same financials, Novartis reported that sales were down by 2% for the unit, amid a trend that has seen pricing pressure in the US market weigh heavily on companies producing generics. The company also shed part of its US generics business at the end of 2018.