LONDON, Sep 4 (APM) - Joseph Jimenez is to step down as chief executive of Novartis and will be succeeded on February 1, 2018 by chief medical officer Dr Vasant Narasimhan, the company announced on Monday.

Jimenez, who has been CEO since 2010, joined the Swiss pharma in 2007, while Narasimhan joined in 2005, the company said in a statement. Jimenez said he and his family will return to the U.S.

Chairman Joerg Reinhardt said: "I would like to express my sincere appreciation for Joe's achievements as CEO. During his tenure, Joe focused Novartis on leading global businesses, while divesting non-core divisions. Under his leadership the innovation pipeline was rejuvenated, and we successfully navigated the patent expirations of our two largest products.

"We anticipate a smooth transition as Joe built a strong leadership team and mentored his successor. Novartis will be well positioned to continue its momentum."

Jimenez said: "Both from a professional and a personal perspective, this is the right moment to hand the leadership reins of the company to Vas. Our strong pipeline and the strategic moves we have taken to focus the company have put Novartis on a strong path for the future. On the personal side, after 10 wonderful years in Switzerland, my family is ready to return to Silicon Valley and the U.S. I'm confident that Vas will be an excellent successor."

Narasimhan has held numerous leadership positions across Novartis in commercial, drug development and strategy roles, the company said. Prior to his current role he was head of development for Novartis Pharmaceuticals.

Reinhardt added: "The strength of Novartis is our ability to drive science-based innovation. Vas is deeply anchored in medical science, has significant experience in managing the interfaces between Research and Development and commercial units and has strong business acumen with a track record of outstanding achievements.

"As a physician, he has a strong patient focus and a genuine humane perspective and care for the mission and values of Novartis. As a result, the board of directors is confident that Vas is the right choice to lead Novartis on our expected next growth phase, driving innovation and further strengthening our competitive position."

Narasimhan said: "With our recent launches, our strong pipeline, broad capabilities, world-class leadership team, and committed people, I am very confident about our future."

First with CAR-T therapy

The announcement comes days after Novartis won the race to have the first CAR-T cancer therapy approved in the U.S. after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration backed the use of Kymriah for certain paediatric and young adult patients with a form of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). (APMMA 54476)

The treatment, which is also the first gene therapy available in the U.S., is approved for use in patients up to 25 years of age with B-cell precursor ALL that is refractory or in second or later relapse.

In July, Novartis reported second-quarter group sales fell 2% to $12.242 billion, hurt by declining revenue from blood cancer drug Glivec/Gleevec (imatinib) and U.S. price pressure at the company's Sandoz generics business, which left its sales 4% down. (APMMA 53951)

Net profit in the second quarter grew 10% to $1.98 billion. Drug sales over the quarter were 1% weaker in reported terms at $8.3 billion, but were 1% firmer in constant currencies.

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