By Noëlle Mennella
PARIS (Reuters) - Sanofi (PA:SASY) is drawing up a shortlist of candidates for the post of chief executive to replace Chris Viehbacher, ousted by the board last month, a source close to the French drugmaker told Reuters.
Sanofi's board met earlier on Tuesday and chose director Jean-Rene Fourtou to lead the appointments and governance committee that will be tasked with reviewing the shortlist and selecting the new CEO, said the source.
At the head of that committee, Fourtou will be replacing Weinberg, who will focus on his dual role of group chairman and interim CEO. But the committee will work in close cooperation with Weinberg, the source added, requesting anonymity.
Sanofi declined to comment. The group said in a statement earlier that it had named Bonnie Bassler, a molecular biology professor, as an independent board member.
The board did not disclose any names of candidates to the top executive job, nor did it give a timeline for the succession or for the next board meeting, the source said.
Olivier Bohuon, the French boss of artificial knee and hip maker Smith & Nephew (L:SN), AstraZeneca's (L:AZN) Pascal Soriot and former Wyeth boss Bernard Poussot have been suggested by industry observers as potential candidates.
Fourtou, who is honorary chairman of media groupVivendii (PA:VIV), is a graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique and has been on Sanofi's board for the past decade.
Fourtou, 75, is known for saving Vivendi from bankruptcy in 2002, ousting its CEO Jean-Bernard Levy in 2012 and piloting the past two years of the group's strategic overhaul away from telecoms and towards media.
Sanofi shares were up 1.1 percent by 1442 GMT.
The stock has fallen 9 percent since the last week of October, when uncertainties over Viehbacher's role surfaced in the French press and the drugmaker warned of an unexpected slowdown at its diabetes business, traditionally its cash cow.
Within days, Sanofi's board had sacked Viehbacher, its chief executive of six years, blaming his solitary management style and poor execution of the group's strategy. The sudden dismissal surprised investors who had hailed the CEO's efforts to strengthen the firm and make it more global.
(Writing by Natalie Huet; Editing by James Regan and Louise Heavens)