Sanofi Names Chief Digital Officer

As part of its strategy to integrate digital technologies and medical science, Sanofi has named Ameet Nathwani, MD, as Chief Digital Officer in addition to his current role of Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer. As Chief Digital Officer, he will be responsible for scaling up Sanofi’s portfolio of digital initiatives by developing external partnerships, building out internal infrastructures, and exploring new business opportunities for Sanofi in the digital space.

“Over the last two years, we have made fast progress in creating an innovative portfolio of digital initiatives and novel partnerships,” said Olivier Brandicourt, Chief Executive Officer at Sanofi, in a February 12, 2019 statement. “With Ameet’s wide experience in digital health and analytics, we will be able to further advance our capabilities to re-invent not only the way we discover and develop medicines but the types of future products we may offer to patients around the world.”

Dr. Nathwani joined Sanofi in May 2016 as Chief Medical Officer and has more than 20 years experience in the pharmaceutical industry. Prior to joining Sanofi, he was the Global Head of Medical Affairs, Novartis Pharma AG and served as an extended member of the Pharma Executive Committee, where he led the establishment of a Real World Evidence Center of Excellence and Digital Medicine capability. He joined Novartis in 2004 as the Senior Vice President and Global Development Head of the Cardiovascular and Metabolic Franchise. He has held senior development and commercial positions, including the Global Head of the Critical Care Business Franchise.

Dr. Nathwani began his pharmaceutical career in 1994 when he joined Glaxo Group Research. From 1994 to 2004, he held increasingly senior global functional and franchise leadership roles in research and development in Glaxo, SmithKline Beecham, and GlaxoSmithKline, both in Europe and the US.

Several other of the large pharmaceutical companies have recently created the position of chief digital officer as part of an overall business strategy to further incorporate digital technologies in product development and commercialization.

In October 2018, Pfizer appointed Lidia Fonseca, who joined Pfizer’s Executive Leadership Team in January 2019, as Executive Vice President, Chief Digital and Technology Officer. She formerly was the Chief Information Officer and Senior Vice President at Quest Diagnostics. Also in October 2018, Merck & Co. named Jim Scholefield, formerly Chief Information Officer at NIKE, as Chief Information and Digital Officer, responsible for leading Merck’s information technology and digital strategy, and as a member of the company’s Executive Committee.

In 2018, Novartis named Bertrand Bodson as Chief Digital Officer of Novartis and member of the Executive Committee of Novartis. From 2013 to 2017, he served as Chief Digital and Marketing Officer of Sainsbury’s Argos, where he led Argos’ transformation from a traditional catalogue business to an online retailer. In 2017, GlaxoSmithKline appointed Karenann Terrell as Chief Digital and Technology Officer with a company-wide remit to transform how new technologies are used to improve performance across the company.

Source: Sanofi

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