Sanofi has named Paulo Fontoura, MD, PhD, an ex-Roche executive and currently Chief Medical Officer at Xaira Therapeutics, a South San Francisco, California-based company focused on applying AI and machine learning in drug discovery and development, as Executive Vice President, Global Head of Research & Development Pharma, effective September 1, 2026. He will be a member of Sanofi’s Executive Committee, based in Paris, and will report to Sanofi’s CEO Belén Garijo. He succeeds Dr. Houman Ashrafian as the head of Sanofi’s R&D, who has decided to pursue an opportunity outside the company. 

Xaira Therapeutics was launched in 2024 and was co-founded by current Chairman and CEO, Marc Tessier-Lavigne, formerly Executive Vice President for Research and Chief Scientific Officer at Roche’s Genentech and formerly President of Rockefeller University and Stanford University. The company’s other co-founder, is David Baker, PhD, co-recipient of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in computational protein design and the Director of the Institute for Protein Design at the University of Washington.  

Prior to joining Xaira, Fontoura spent more than 15 years at Roche, where he held a series of senior leadership positions culminating as Senior Vice President and Global Head of Clinical Development for Neuroscience, Immunology, Ophthalmology, Infectious and Rare Diseases. During his tenure at Roche, he oversaw a global organization of physicians and clinical scientists and was accountable for managing a broad late-stage portfolio across multiple therapeutic areas.  

The appointment of Fontoura is one of the first major moves by Sanofi’s Garijo, who took over as CEO in late April (April 2026) and who is tasked in driving revenue growth through increased product diversification and R&D productivity as the company remains heavily reliant on its top-selling product, Dupixent (dupilumab), a drug for treating multiple inflammatory diseases. She succeeded Sanofi’s former CEO, Paul Hudson, who stepped down from the company in February (February 2026) with Olivier Charmeil, Executive Vice President, General Medicines, serving as Interim CEO during the transition. 

Source: Sanofi