Boris Zaïtra: new Pharma’s head of corporate bd
Boris Zaïtra (pictured), currently head of group business development, will be appointed as head of corporate business development, effective 1 july 2024. James Sabry, head of Roche Pharma Partnering, will be retiring after fourteen years in the company.
Boris Zaïtra’s appointment
Zaïtra’s new role will bring together the Pharma Partnering and Group business development functions. He will become a member of the enlarged corporate executive committee, reporting to Thomas Schinecker, Group CEO, and will continue to be based in Basel.
Zaïtra joined Roche in Basel in 2012 in his current role. Previous to that, he had progressively expanding M&A leadership responsibilities in multiple industries. He holds a Master of Sciences from Ecole Polytechnique in France.
James Sabry
James Sabry (pictured below) joined Genentech in 2010 as head of Genentech Partnering. In 2018, he became the Head of Pharma Partnering and a member of the enlarged Corporate Executive Committee, based in Basel, Switzerland. He completed an MD at Queen’s University in Canada and his residency at Harvard Medical School, and then completed a PhD in neuroscience at UCSF.

Roche Pharma
Founded in 1896 in Basel, Switzerland, as one of the first industrial manufacturers of branded pharmaceuticals, Roche has grown to become one amongst the largest biotechnology companies and one of the leading companies in in-vitro diagnostics.