Sanofi nominates two new independent directors

Sanofi has proposed two new independent directors to be appointed during its general shareholders' meeting on May 4th.

Diane Souza, the former chief executive of UnitedHealthcare Specialty Benefits, is the first of these nominees. She can offer more than 25 years of managed care and health benefits experience and is a certified public accountant.

Meanwhile, Dr Thomas Sudhof, the Avram Goldstein professor in the school of medicine of Stanford University, has also been nominated. Prior to this position, he spent 25 years at the University of Texas, Southwestern, chairing the department of neuroscience.

Serge Weinberg, chairman of the board of Sanofi, said: "We look forward to their contribution to Sanofi's strategy as we continue to innovate and introduce new medicines and vaccines that can help improve health outcomes."

Their appointments come as Jean-Rene Fourtou, Klaus Pohle and Uwe Bicker all step down from the board.

In 2015, the company recorded a year-on-year sales increase of 9.7 percent, or 2.2 percent on a constant exchange rate basis, positioning it well for continued momentum in 2016.