BRIEF—AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot awarded British knighthood

French born now Australian citizen Pascal Soriot, chief executive of UK pharma major AstraZeneca, today received a British knighthood for services to UK life sciences and leadership in the global response to the COVID pandemic in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2022.

Leif Johansson, AstraZeneca’s chairman, said: “I am delighted for Pascal, his family, and all those at AstraZeneca with this recognition of his remarkable contribution to UK life sciences and response to the pandemic. His personal dedication to drive advances for patients, to establish AstraZeneca as a leading scientific company, and to develop the people who work alongside him, make this a fitting honour.”

Since joining AstraZeneca a decade ago, Sir Pascal led a turnaround that makes the UK-headquartered company a scientific world leader having launched multiple innovative medicines, expanded its geographic presence globally, and established R&D facilities around the world including its new, state-of-the-art  Discovery Centre (the DISC) in Cambridge, UK.

Among his significant achievements early in his stewardship of AstraZeneca, in 2014, Sir Pascal fended off a £55 per share, a total of around $116 billion (at then exchange rates) hostile takeover bid from US pharma giant Pfizer.

Today, the company enjoys the second largest market capitalization on the London Stock Exchange with the share price quadrupling over the last 10 years.