Novartis China Announces New Management Appointments and Strategic Restructuring to Drive Innovation and Efficiency

Recently, Novartis announced the appointment of Hong Guan as the Head of the Cardiovascular Therapeutic Area for Novartis Innovative Medicines China and Head of Innovative Patient Services, effective from July 18. At the same time, Hong Guan will become a member of the Innovative Medicines China Management Team, reporting to Ying Zhang, President and Managing Director of Novartis Innovative Medicines China.

Before joining Novartis, Hong Guan served as the Executive Director of Consumer Marketing and Digital Marketing at Allergan Aesthetics China, where he accumulated extensive experience in e-commerce operations, membership system development, and consumer education.

In Guan Hong's career, he has held various positions in multiple foreign companies such as Roche, Fujisawa, and AstraZeneca. During this time, he also served as the Marketing Director and General Manager of the Division at the Chinese internet company Dianping. Therefore, his cross-industry experience has enabled Guan Hong to effectively promote the integration of online and offline solutions, as well as the innovation of future business models.

Based on this, Guan Hong will continue to drive the strategic growth of Entresto and prepare for the launch of Leqvio, in order to bring about the inflection point of cardiovascular events in China as soon as possible.

Hong Guan will also leverage hospitals and innovative channels, including new commercial partnerships, to maximize the impact on patients; he will further promote innovative patient service solutions, including AI-X solutions (HeartCare/LumiSkin Renewal).

China Management Team Structure Updated Again

In early April, Novartis announced the integration of its pharmaceuticals and oncology divisions into a single Innovative Medicines (IM) division. This new structure also splits operations into two independent commercial organizations based on geographic regions — the US Innovative Medicines division and the International Innovative Medicines division. Each will operate independently, maintain separate financial accounting, and have ownership over customer experience, marketing and sales, as well as market access within their respective markets.

Following the global restructuring, the appointment of Novartis Innovative Medicines China management team (click on the left to view) will take effect on June 1. Recently, this structure has been updated again:

Retail, Emerging Markets and Commercial Department

The following appointments report to Chen Hui, Head of Retail, Emerging Markets and Commercial Operations for Innovative Medicines in China:

Wang Junxing Appointed as Head of Retail

Jin Jing Appointed as Head of Emerging Market Strategy and Markets

Lu Shuangxia Appointed as Head of Commercial South Region

Pan Yu Appointed as Head of Commercial West Region

Yang Lei Appointed as Head of Commercial North Region

Chen Hui Will Temporarily Serve as the Head of the Eastern Commercial Region and the Head of Commercial Excellence Operations

Business Excellence and Operations Department

The following appointments report to Yifan Zhang, Head of Innovative Medicines China Business Excellence and Operations:

Wang Cheng Appointed as Head of Business Insights and Customer Engagement

Peng Lei Appointed as Head of Digital Solutions

Chang Rui Appointed as Head of Business Excellence

Wang Xingheng Appointed as Head of Business Training

Xu Jiacheng Appointed as Head of Market Excellence

Zhao Jing Appointed as Head of Conference Activities

Value Access Department

The following appointments report to Luo Ya, Head of Innovative Medicines China Value Access at Novartis:

Ni Qian Appointed as Head of Hospital Access

Yang Lei Appointed as Central Head of Market Access

Liu Fang Appointed as Head of Health Economics and Access Strategy

Liu Hua Appointed as Head of Innovative Access

Wang Huijie Appointed as Head of Market Access, Eastern Region

You Guowei Appointed as Head of Market Access, Southern Region

Chen Yaping Appointed as Head of Market Access, Western Region

Liu Xiang Appointed as Head of Market Access for North China

The position of Head of Bidding Strategy remains open for public recruitment and will be announced later.

Medical Affairs Department

The following appointments report to Wu Ling, Head of Innovative Medicines China Medical Affairs and Chief Medical Officer:

Liu Lingli Appointed as Medical Head in Cardiovascular Treatment Field

Wang Zhidong Appointed as Medical Head in Immunotherapy Field

Zhu Xiaolin Appointed as Medical Head in the Field of Oncology Treatment

Wang Wenhao Appointed as Medical Head in Ophthalmology, Transplantation, and Central Nervous System Treatment Fields

Li Runqin Appointed as Medical Head of Cross-Therapeutic Area New Products

The position of Head of Medical Excellence Operations and Clinical Trials is still open for public recruitment and will be announced later.

Strategy and New Product Planning Department

The following appointments report to Seymour Gail, Head of Innovative Medicines China Strategy and New Product Planning:

Yuan Xu Appointed as Head of Strategic and New Product Launch Strategy Projects

Wang Liang Appointed as Head of Strategic Projects in the Field of Immunotherapy

Wei Wei Appointed as Head of New Product Planning in the Immunotherapy Field

Xingtong Bu Appointed as Head of New Product Planning Across Therapeutic Areas

Zhang Jie Appointed as Head of New Product Planning Across Therapeutic Areas

*The above personnel appointments are listed in no particular order.

Other new product planning leaders and strategic project leader positions are still open for recruitment and will be announced later.

With the implementation of the new organizational structure, Novartis expects to save nearly US$1 billion annually by 2024, while ensuring a compound annual growth rate of at least 4% from 2020 to 2026. The company anticipates that its profit margin will reach over 30% in the medium term and exceed 40% in the medium to long term.

Sandoz Expected to Spin Off by End of Year

Bloomberg reported that Novartis is increasingly likely to spin off its $25 billion Sandoz business into a separate listing.

Actually, since 2019, there have been rumors in the industry that Novartis plans to spin off its generic drug division, Sandoz. Recently, Sandoz responded that Novartis will make a decision by the end of 2022 – either to spin off or sell.

Previously, multiple institutions had expressed interest in acquiring Sandoz:

In November 2021, EQT, the Sweden-based investment group, and Germany's Struengmann family considered jointly acquiring this generic drug giant for $21.6 billion, but the deal was not realized;

In February 2022, Bloomberg reported that private equity firms Blackstone Group and Carlyle Group might join hands to acquire Sondoz for $25 billion.

Sandoz, established in 2003 as Novartis' generic pharmaceuticals division, has now become one of the largest generic drug companies in the world. In February this year, according to Novartis’ 2021 financial report, Sandoz did not perform well. The division's net sales last year were $2.5 billion; although sales volume increased by 11%, sales revenue dropped by 9% due to drug price pressures. Specifically, sales in the European market fell by 4%, while sales in the U.S. market declined by as much as 8%.

In Novartis' earnings report, CEO Vas Narasimhan stated that he would decide on Sandoz's future direction before the fourth quarter of this year, while keeping all options open. Reports suggest that if Sandoz’s revenue in the U.S. continues to decline this year, it may become more difficult for Novartis to sell the business.

However, according to Narasimhan's public interviews, while Sandoz has received acquisition interest from some private equity firms and other generic drug companies, he also admitted that Novartis' direction still requires specific recommendations, and everything is still in flux.

Editor: Eight Corners

This article is a reprint from Pharma Intelligence. All images and text are owned by the original author, and the reprint aims to convey more information without representing the viewpoint of this platform. If there are any issues regarding content, copyright, or other matters, please leave a message on this platform, and we will delete it promptly.