Sir Pascal Claude Roland Soriot (born 23 May 1959) is a French-born Australian businessman and chief executive of the British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company

AstraZeneca AstraZeneca plc () (AZ) is a British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with its headquarters at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in Cambridge, UK. It has a portfolio of products for major diseases in areas includi ...

Early life

Soriot was born in France on 23 May 1959. His father died when he was 20. He studied veterinary medicine at the

École nationale vétérinaire d'Alfort The National veterinary school of Alfort ( or ''ENVA'') is a French public institution of scientific research and higher education in veterinary medicine, located in Maisons-Alfort, Val-de-Marne, close to Paris. It is operated under the superv ...

at Maisons-Alfort in Paris. He later obtained an MBA at

HEC Paris HEC Paris () is a business school and ''grande école'' located in Jouy-en-Josas, a southwestern outer suburb of Paris, France. It offers Bachelor, MiM, MSc in International Finance, MBA, EMBA, executive education, professional developm ...

Career

Roussel Uclaf

In April 1986, he joined Roussel Uclaf (formerly France's second largest pharmaceutical company, until bought by

Hoechst AG Hoechst AG () was a German chemicals, later life sciences, company that became Aventis Deutschland after its merger with France's Rhône-Poulenc S.A. in 1999. With the new company's 2004 merger with Sanofi-Synthélabo, it became a subsidiar ...

in 1997) as a salesman in Australia. In 1996, he became General Manager of Hoechst Marion Roussel in Australia, moving to Tokyo in April 1997.

Aventis

In 2000 he moved to Aventis in America, becoming chief operating officer of Aventis USA in 2002, which became

Sanofi Sanofi S.A. is a French Multinational corporation, multinational pharmaceutical and healthcare company headquartered in Paris, France. The corporation was established in 1973 and merged with Synthélabo in 1999 to form Sanofi-Synthélabo. In 200 ...

Aventis USA in 2004.

Roche

He joined Roche in 2006 as head of marketing. From April 2009 to 2010, he was chief executive of the Roche subsidiary

Genentech Genentech, Inc. is an American biotechnology corporation headquartered in South San Francisco, California. It operates as an independent subsidiary of holding company Roche. Genentech Research and Early Development operates as an independent cent ...

. He rejoined Roche Pharma AG in 2010 as chief operating officer.

AstraZeneca

In August 2012 he was named as the new chief executive of

, the world's fifth largest pharmaceutical company, when aged 53. He took up the post on 1 October 2012. In July 2017, it was reported that Soriot would become the next CEO of Israel-based Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, succeeding Erez Vigodman, though this was soon denied. In September 2018, he made headlines commenting on his pay of £9.4m in salary and bonuses. 'The truth is I’m the lowest-paid CEO in the whole industry', he said. 'It is annoying to some extent. But at the end of the day it is what it is.' In 2023, Soriot was the highest paid CEO of the major European pharmaceutical companies, as he earned $21.3 million. That was a nearly 12 per cent increase over 2022. In March 2024, Soriot was awarded the President's Medal by the

Society of Chemical Industry The Society of Chemical Industry (SCI) is a learned society set up in 1881 "to further the application of chemistry and related sciences for the public benefit". Offices The society's headquarters is in Belgrave Square, London. There are semi-in ...

for leading AstraZeneca’s

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

vaccination programme.

Personal life

He is married and has two children. He has three brothers, all of whom are doctors. Soriot was knighted in the

2022 Birthday Honours The 2022 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to Orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms, various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those ...

for services to UK life sciences and the response to COVID-19. He qualifies for a substantive

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

hood rather than an honorary one by virtue of being an Australian citizen. He counts cycling, horse riding and skiing as hobbies.

References

External links

Roche
{{DEFAULTSORT:Soriot, Pascal 1959 births Living people AstraZeneca people HEC Paris alumni French chief operating officers Chief executives in the pharmaceutical industry French chief executives French veterinarians Genentech people Hoffmann-La Roche people Sanofi people French expatriates in Australia Australian Knights Bachelor Businesspeople awarded knighthoods