PARIS (AP) --Sanofi-Aventis SA said Wednesday that its top legal and financial officer has stepped down, and that two executives will inherit each of his former roles at the French pharmaceuticals giant.
The resignation of 23-year company veteran Jean-Claude Leroy is the latest managerial shake-up for Sanofi-Aventis after former GlaxoSmithKline PLC executive Chris Viehbacher took over as CEO last week.
Sanofi-Aventis spokesman Geoffroy Bessaud declined to say why Leroy had stepped down, or whether he was leaving the company entirely.
Chief financial officer Laurence Debroux and General Counsel Karen Linehan, who had reported to Leroy, will now join Sanofi-Aventis' executive committee and report directly to Viehbacher, a company statement said.
Viehbacher is to implement a new three-tiered strategy of helping the company better adapt its research and development to new regulatory and economic constraints, improve its position in emerging markets, and increase its activities related to medicines and health care.
Sanofi-Aventis shares closed down less than 1 percent at euro45.10 ($58.86) in Paris.
