Bristol Myers CEO Caforio to step down

(Reuters) -Bristol Myers Squibb Co said on Wednesday CEO Giovanni Caforio will step down in November and be succeeded by Chief Commercialization Officer Christopher Boerner.

Boerner, who has been CCO since 2018, was named chief operating officer until he takes the top job. He joined the company in 2015 and previously served in leadership roles at Seattle Genetics Inc and Roche's Genentech.

Boerner said he is aligned with Caforio on the direction for the company.

"We have a very strong foundation as a company and Giovanni and I are going to continue to work together to deliver on that value," Boerner said in an interview.

Caforio, who has been CEO since 2015, will remain as executive chairman of the company's board.

"It's really the right time for me to step back and spend time with my family, who are in Europe. That's really the main driver of the decision" to retire, Caforio, 58, said in an interview.

Under Caforio's tenure, Bristol Myers bought Celgene for $74 billion in 2019, boosting its revenue as sales of its top-selling cancer drug Opdivo slowed due to stiff competition from Merck & Co Inc's Keytruda.

Bristol Myers also named Adam Lenkowsky as chief commercialization officer, replacing Boerner.

Bristol Myers is due to report first-quarter financial results on Thursday.

Its shares rose 0.39% to $68.29 in after-hours trading.

(Reporting by Michael Erman, Aditya Samal and Caroline Humer; Editing by Arun Koyyur, Stephen Coates and Richard Chang)

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