Paris (France), November 14, 2022 – Unither Pharmaceuticals’ Supervisory Board appoints Jean-François Hilaire as Chief Executive Officer. As Executive Chairman, Eric Goupil will continue to play an important role in strategic decisions. The Group has grown sales by an average of 14% per year since 2000, reaching a production record of more than 3 billion units by 2022. The CDMO now employs more than 2,000 people at its plants in France, the United States, Brazil, and China.
Eric Goupil, Executive Chairman of the Group said: “After 22 years as Chairman and CEO of Unither Pharmaceuticals, it is time for me to step back and hand over the CEO role to Jean-François Hilaire, a great pharmaceutical industry professional who will continue to develop the Group and instill our vision of making healthcare solutions that improve patients’ lives accessible to the greatest number of people.
For the journey we have taken together, I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to our customers and employees. To remain worthy of our customers’ trust, Jean-François will keep our values alive so that the entire Unither team will be motivated to meet the challenges of this new chapter.”
Introducing Jean-François Hilaire, the new CEO of the Group:
Jean-François Hilaire is a pharmacist and has worked in the pharmaceutical industry for more than 30 years. During these years, he has worked in R&D in a pharmaceutical development department, led sales teams internationally, managed factories, both direct and networked, and was involved in the industrial strategy at Abott, before joining Recipharm in 2015 to manage the group’s strategy.
In this context, he created the Advanced Delivery Systems division, which combines the skills needed to develop and market drugs associated with medical devices, such as inhalers or auto-injectors. Jean-François Hilaire’s experience includes French, European, and American businesses, family-held and publicly listed. His teams have been based all over the world, including India and the US.
Jean-François Hilaire holds a PhD in Pharmacy from University Victor Segalen Bordeaux 2 and has completed the CEDEP program (Executive Development).