Pharmacia Farms Out CEOs: Rothwell To Head Sanofi North America

Sanofi-Synthelabo North America CEO-designate Tim Rothwell will bring extensive experience in the low-molecular weight heparin category to help re-energize the launch of Arixtra .

Rothwell will start as Sanofi-Synthelabo's chief executive in North America May 5. He is leaving Pharmacia, where he served as president-global prescription business, in the wake of the completion of that company's merger with Pfizer.

Sanofi's LMWH product Arixtra has gotten off to a very slow start since it was launched in January 2002. Rothwell has extensive experience in the category from his time as an executive at Rhone-Poulenc Rorer (now Aventis), as well as Pharmacia.

When he was RPR's president of pharmaceutical operations, Rothwell oversaw the growth of Lovenox to blockbuster status. Rothwell left the company for Pharmacia & Upjohn at the start of 1998; when RPR and Hoechst-Marion Roussel announced the Aventis merger almost two years later, Lovenox was in place to be the combined company's top-selling product (¹ , p. 18).

Rothwell has also viewed the LMWH category from the opposite end of the spectrum. At Pharmacia, the stable of products included the LMWH product Fragmin . Although Fragmin was introduced around the same time as Lovenox, it has not performed as well in the market.

Sanofi and its Arixtra joint venture partner Organon filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission about Aventis' contracting practices soon after the launch, leading to a government investigation (² , p. 13).

Rothwell will also be resuming responsibility for Ambien (zolpidem) sales by joining Sanofi.

Pharmacia and Sanofi co-promoted the insomnia agent for a year before Sanofi reacquired sole rights to the product in April 2002. Pharmacia had gained co-marketing rights through its acquisition of Searle.

Rothwell is succeeding Gordon Proctor at Sanofi. In December, Proctor was named head of the company's intercontinental operations; worldwide pharmaceuticals head Hanspeter Sprek headed North American operations in the interim (³ 'The Pink Sheet' Dec. 23, 2002, In Brief).

Sanofi's other major North American brands are Avapro and Plavix , both marketed in partnership with Bristol-Myers Squibb. The products were caught up in channel-stuffing practices acknowledged by Bristol in its recent earnings restatement (⁴ (Also see "Cardinal, McKesson Incentives Are At Center Of Bristol Restatement" - Pink Sheet, 17 Mar, 2003.), p. 32).

Rothwell's experience with mergers and restructurings could also be an asset if Sanofi opts to make a strategic move. At Pharmacia, Rothwell oversaw a realignment of the sales organization when he joined the company as part of the turnaround effort in the wake of the P&U merger, and then participated in the integration of Searle.

Last year, a popular source of speculation in Europe was the possibility of an Aventis/Sanofi combination. Sanofi's partnership with Bristol also inevitably brings suggestions about a closer relationship between the two companies.

Rothwell is one of four members of the Pharmacia senior management team to move into top operating positions at other companies upon the closing of the Pfizer/Pharmacia deal.

Former Pharmacia CEO Fred Hassan has taken over the helm of Schering-Plough (see ⁵ ). Pharmacia's former R&D head Goran Ando is the new CEO of Celltech (⁶ (Also see "Pharmacia R&D Head Ando Leaves For Celltech; Will Still Work With Pfizer" - Pink Sheet, 21 Apr, 2003.), p. 10).

Former Pharmacia Sector VP-Global Specialty Operations Stephen MacMillan is joining the medical device company Stryker as chief operating officer, effective June 1.

Among the next tier of Pharmacia execs, Group VP-Global Clinical Research & Experimental Medicine Mark Corrigan, MD, has been named Sepracor's exec VP-R&D.

Sepracor noted that Corrigan specializes in central nervous system disorders, an important R&D area for the company; Sepracor has an NDA pending for insomnia drug Estorra (eszopiclone) at FDA.