It’s the end of an era at Jazz Pharmaceuticals as the drugmaker’s co-founder and CEO, Bruce Cozadd, eyes his exit after nearly 22 years with the company—some 15 of which were spent at the helm.
Cozadd plans to retire from his current role once Jazz appoints a CEO successor, which the company says it aims to accomplish by the end of 2025. The drugmaker’s board has already kicked off its search for a new leader and will consider candidates both from within the company and beyond, Jazz said in a Monday release.
Cozadd, for his part, will remain on board as Jazz’s board chair once the CEO switch occurs, the company explained.
The decision isn’t expected to weigh on Jazz’s financial performance this year, with the company continuing to project full-year 2024 revenue between $4 billion and $4.1 billion.
Overall, analysts at TD Cowen said they were “optimistic” that the leadership transition won’t have a “significant near-term impact on the company,” adding that they “look forward” to updates on the hunt for a new chief executive in the coming months.
The decision to search for a successor shouldn’t be taken as a sign of turbulence or a shift in priorities at Jazz, either, the TD Cowen team wrote in a note to clients, citing comments made during a follow-up call with the company. Rather, Jazz asserted that it’s “well positioned, with a solid vision, balance sheet, and momentum,” and that now is the “right time for a transition,” according to the analyst team.
Cozadd helped found Jazz in 2003 and served as executive chairman through 2009 before donning the mantle of chief executive in April of that year. Since the company’s inception, Cozadd has helped grow Jazz into a formidable force in sleep disorders, epilepsy and, increasingly, cancer, with more than 2,800 employees around the world.
"It has been the honor of my career to co-found and lead Jazz alongside such a talented team of researchers, scientists and business professionals,” Cozadd said in a statement. "With great momentum and the business in a strong position entering 2025, I feel confident that Jazz's next leader will be well-positioned to build on our legacy of growth and success.”
News of Cozadd’s planned retirement comes shortly after his company scored a major oncology win with the FDA approval of HER2 antibody zanidatamab, which now sports the commercial moniker Ziihera.
Meanwhile, Jazz has charted a number of other C-suite change-ups over the past year.
In July, the company announced it was promoting its senior vice president of Europe and international, Samantha Pearce, to chief commercial officer. Pearce joined Jazz in 2020 following long stints at AstraZeneca and Celgene.
Last September, the company also promoted its finance chief, Renée Galá, to the role of chief operating officer, following the exit of previous COO Dan Swisher. Since then, the company has filled the CFO position with Eli Lilly veteran Philip Johnson, who took up the post in March.