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Novartis CEO joins Anthropic’s board of directors

Novartis CEO joins Anthropic's supervisory board
Novartis CEO joins Anthropic's supervisory board Keystone-SDA

Anthropic has appointed Vasant Narasimhan, current CEO of Swiss pharma giant Novartis, as a member of its independent board of directors. The structure now has seven members, the US.-based AI company said.

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The appointment was made in accordance with Anthropic’s specific governance structure, the Long-Term Benefit Trust, as announced by the US company on Tuesday night. This is an independent body overseeing Anthropic’s long-term direction, designed to protect the company’s mission from short-term commercial pressures.

In February, the trust announced the appointment of former Microsoft boss Chris Liddell, who also served under Donald Trump’s first presidency as White House deputy chief of staff for policy coordination and director of strategic initiatives.

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Until now, Narasimhan has not held any other directorship.

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, Narasimhan’s appointment to the board of directors is part of Anthropic’s potential IPO, which could take place as early as this year, and the planned expansion of its healthcare business. According to the article, Anthropic recently acquired biotech start-up Coefficient Bio for $400 million (CHF312 million).

Anthropic has been operating one of its three European offices in Zurich since autumn 2024. It is looking to strengthen its Swiss team and the company is prepared to spend significant sums to do so. According to a job advertisement from the company, the proposed annual salary for an AI specialist is between CHF280,000 and CHF680,000.

Translated from German by AI/jdp

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