French drugmaker Sanofi will pay its former chief executive Chris Viehbacher, fired by the company in October 2014, a severance package worth €4.4 million in total, including fixed and variable compensation.

As part of the deal, Viehbacher may not hire on with a Sanofi competitor before the end of June 2015. The former CEO has also signed a confidentiality agreement for 24 months and agreed not to hire previous employees of the company for 18 months.

News reports said the total is less than the two years' fixed and variable pay of just under €6 million Viehbacher was entitled to under his contract but the total sum would be increased by existing stock and options that he will retain rights to.

Supervisory board Serge Weinberger is still looking for a replacement for Viebacher, who he said at the time was dismissed for poor execution of strategy and lack of communication with the rest of the board.

The news agency Reuters reported that Christophe Weber, president of Takeda of Japan, had been approached but ruled himself out of the job. According to the newspaper Financial Times, Olivier Brandicourt, head of Bayer HealthCare, and Olivier Bohuon of UK-based Smith & Nephew also are seen as candidates for the Sanofi top job.