Multinational drugmaker Novartis has said that its Vice Chairman and Managing Director Milan Paleja has decided step down from May 31, 2019, to follow challenges outside the company.
The decision comes a little over six months since Paleja took charge of the office in June. And it will be the second change at the helm of the India operations in about 10 months for the Swiss drugmaker.
Paleja had been appointed after the previous Novartis Vice-Chairman and MD, Jawed Zia decided to step down mid-March, within days of his taking charge. Zia had been appointed in January to take charge from Ranjit Shahani who was leaving the company on February 28, 2018.
A response was awaited from Novartis on the two successive changes at the helm of its India operations, in such a short period.
In fact, Shahani who headed the company’s India operations till earlier this year had steered it through what were tough times for it, with its blood cancer drug Glivec locked in the country’s first patent battle after the Patents Act was amended in 2005.
Novartis has since witnessed massive changes globally with an estimated $23 billion three-way transaction it went through in 2014 involving GlaxoSmithKline and Eli Lilly. Novartis swapped its vaccines business with Glaxo’s oncology business, even as it shed its presence in animal health (to Eli Lilly) and took on a reduced role in consumer healthcare. The Swiss drugmaker also saw change at the global level last year, when its Chief Executive Officer Joseph Jimenez said he was stepping down in 2018, after eight years in position. Novartis’ board then appointed Vasant (Vas) Narasimhan, as the new CEO from this February