AstraZeneca focus to be on R&D after a team shake-up

By BEN GRIFFITHS FOR THE DAILY MAIL

Updated: 20:17 EST, 15 January 2013

New broom chief executive Pascal Soriot has unveiled a revamp of AstraZeneca’s senior management team intended to cement research and development at the heart of the drug-maker’s business.

The move, which sees R&D boss Martin Mackay and commercial operations chief Tony Zook head for the exit, is also designed to speed up decision making.

It strips out a layer of management at a time when Britain’s second biggest pharmaceuticals group battles to inject new life into its product pipeline.

Soriot, who only started at AstraZeneca in October, is creating three senior R&D roles which will be responsible for discovery and early stage development of new molecules for medicines, biologics and late-stage development.

Additionally, three new commercial roles will be focused on different geographic regions.

Cenkos Securities analyst Navid Malik said: ‘He is clearing the decks. But it is a surprise to see Mackay leaving.

‘He was a one-time head of research at Pfizer, so he’s a heavy-hitter brought on board to solve problems and he hasn’t really had a lot of time to do that.’ Yesterday’s announcement comes ahead of a crucial strategic review being conducted by the new chief executive, who replaced David Brennan following a shareholder revolt last summer.

The firm is expected to outline the preliminary findings of its report alongside annual results due on January 31.

Soriot said: ‘This new senior executive team structure enables us to bring an even sharper management focus to key pipeline assets, key brands and key markets, and helps us further accelerate decision-making.’

His first move on joining the company was to suspend share buy-backs, prompting speculation among City analysts and investors that the money would be diverted into a series of small bolt-on acquisitions

AstraZeneca (up 11.5p at 3041.5p) needs to counter the impact of big-selling remedies losing patent protection.

In the third quarter sales slipped 19 per cent to £4.15bn, with profits for the same period more than halving to £1.3bn.

Austerity cuts among eurozone governments are forcing down prices and few new prospects are coming through the group’s R&D department.

Soriot is paid £1.1m a year but is also eligible for a bonus of up to 180pc of salary. He was given a £4m ‘golden hello’ to compensate for the loss of a long-term incentive plan with his former employer Roche.