After pressure from stakeholders, AstraZeneca has started looking for candidates to replace CEO Pascal Soriot, who has served at the helm of the drug company for six years, according to The (UK) Times.
Mr. Soriot isn't expected to leave immediately, but the company reportedly hired headhunters to draw up a list of potential internal candidates. The Times reports that potential candidates could include AstraZeneca's senior executives Mene Pangalos and Ruud Dobber.
The news comes after the drugmaker suffered a setback with the failure of a big lung cancer trial in November.
Mr. Soriot had promised to achieve at least $40 billion in sales by 2023, and the cancer drug setback pushes that goal further out of reach.