Desmarest Quits Sanofi Board to Focus on Total Role

Sanofi said on Tuesday that Thierry Desmarest had resigned from the board of the French drugmaker to focus on his role as chairman of oil group Total following the sudden death of Christophe de Margerie.

De Margerie had held both the chairmanship and the CEO roles until he was killed in a plane crash in Moscow on Oct. 20. Total has named Patrick Pouyanne as CEO alongside returning chairman Desmarest.

Former Total chief executive Desmarest, 68, previously honorary chairman of the oil group, will keep the chairmanship position until the end of 2015, after which the roles of CEO and chairman will be re-combined, Total said last week.

Desmarest has been a director of Sanofi since 2000.

(Reporting by James Regan; Editing by Andrew Callus)