Pascal Soriot was born in Paris in 1959 and trained as a veterinarian before earning an MBA at HEC. He built a long career at Roche, where he led the Genentech integration, before being named chief executive of AstraZeneca in 2012 — at a moment when the company was widely seen as a struggling target for acquisition.
His decision to reject a high-profile takeover offer from Pfizer in 2014 and instead pursue a long-term scientific reinvention has, more than a decade later, been vindicated by the emergence of AstraZeneca as one of the leading oncology companies in the world, alongside major franchises in cardiovascular, renal, metabolic and rare disease, and the high-profile development of its COVID-19 vaccine with Oxford.
Soriot is one of the longest-tenured chief executives of a global top-tier pharmaceutical company and is regarded as among the most scientifically literate operators in the industry.