Sanofi's new CEO

Sanofi is bringing a new chief executive on board: Paul Hudson, the former pharma lead at Novartis. He’s stepping in for Olivier Brandicourt, who says he’s headed off for an early retirement. However, Brandicourt has faced plenty of investor chagrin in his four years as top dog at the French pharma giant: Sanofi’s pipeline is quite thin, and pricing pressures have taken its toll on the company’s value. 

The market’s taking to Hudson’s hire with some optimism, however, with shares jumping 5 percent in Europe after the Friday announcement.