Appointments: Novartis And GSK Fill Key R&D Roles, Celgene Board Changes And Others
Executive Summary
This week's announcements include Novartis's replacement for Vas Narasimhan as head of global development, GlaxoSmithKline's new head of worldwide business development for pharmaceuticals research & development, new board members at Celgene, an interim CEO at Nordic Nanovector, and changes at Vectura, PureTech Health and Exicure.
Novartis AG has appointed John Tsai as head of global drug development (GDD) and chief medical officer, effective May 1. He will be based in Basel, Switzerland, will report to CEO Vas Narasimhan, and become a member of the executive committee. Tsai joins from Amgen Inc. where he has been chief medical officer and senior vice president of global medical since May 2017. He succeeds Narasimhan who became CEO of Novartis on Feb. 1. Rob Kowalski, who has led GDD ad interim since Feb. 1, will resume his responsibilities as head of global regulatory affairs for GDD.
GlaxoSmithKline PLC has appointed Kevin Sin as senior vice president and head of worldwide business development for pharmaceuticals research & development. He will join GSK in July from Genentech Inc., where he is currently vice president and global head of oncology business development. He has worked within the pharmaceutical and life sciences industry for over 20 years in roles spanning business development, legal and research. Before joining Genentech in 2006, Sin was an attorney advising private and public life sciences companies on business development and strategic partnering transactions. He will report to Hal Barron and be based in San Francisco.
Gilla Kaplan, Celgene Corp.'s longest-standing director, is retiring from the board and will not stand for re-election at the upcoming annual stockholder meeting on June 13. Patricia "Pat" Hemingway Hall and Hans Bishop have been elected to Celgene's board. Kaplan has served as director since Apr. 1998 and is currently director of the global health program for tuberculosis at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Hemingway Hall has more than 30 years of experience with a focus on the US health insurance market. Bishop was most recently president and CEO of Juno Therapeutics Inc., which he co-founded in 2013 and led until Juno was acquired by Celgene in March.
Nordic Nanovector ASA has appointed Tone Kvåle to the position of interim chief executive officer in addition to her current role as chief financial officer. The company said that appointment was made to conform to Norwegian companies law and a search for a full-time CEO is progressing.
Vectura Group PLC's chief financial officer and executive director Andrew Derodra has decided to leave the group to take up a new role as chief financial officer at Unilabs Holdings SA, the private-equity owned medical diagnostics company. Derodra will remain in his position at Vectura and on its board until the end of July and a search for his replacement is underway. Vectura has also appointed Anne Whitaker as an independent non-executive director with effect from June 1. Whitaker has more than 25 years' experience in the life science industry, with experience in the US respiratory sector. Until recently she was president and chief executive officer of KNOW Bio, LLC and its wholly owned subsidiary, Novoclem Therapeutics Inc, and before that was executive vice president and group chairman at Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc..
Joep Muijrers has been appointed as chief financial officer at PureTech Health PLC. He previously spent 11 years as a partner and portfolio manager at LSP (Life Sciences Partners), a trans-Atlantic investor group with exclusive focus on life sciences.
Dr. Matthias Schroff has been appointed to chief operating officer at Exicure Inc., a gene regulatory and immunotherapeutic drug company. Schroff brings more than 15 years' senior leadership experience within global biopharmaceutical companies and most recently as chief executive officer of Vaximm AG. Prior to joining Vaximm, he was CEO of Mologen AG, serving on the company's executive board for over ten years.