Asia Executives To Watch: Novartis China, GSK India, Cipla
Executive Summary
Novartis’s former head of West China is moving to lead its global cardio-metabolic franchise, while GSK India and Cipla have made key personnel appointments on the manufacturing front.
Another China head of a Big Pharma is moving to a global role. Former senior vice president and head of West China, Peter Catalino, is now global business franchise head for cardio-metabolic medicines at the Swiss drug maker Novartis AG.
Catalino was mostly recently the country president and head of pharma at Novartis Turkey, a position he assumed in 2015 after spending nearly three years in China. He started his assignment in the Middle Kingdom from Chengdu, the capital city of the western province of Sichuan.
Catalino arrived in August 2012 and oversaw the company's operation in the western region of China.
During his tenure, Novartis won awards for its social responsibility project Health Express, in which the company conducted extensive health education for the public in the Western remote areas in Xinjing, and assisted the local blind towards restoring sight.
After Chengdu, Catalino had a short stint in Shanghai serving as the head of the hepatitis and osteoporosis business unit for four months. Before China, he was Novartis’ global head of commercial excellence, and global head of strategy – both positions were based in Basel, Switzerland. Prior to joining Novartis, Catalino worked for McKinsey in London, UK, for over four years.
Early this year, GSK appointed Luke Miels from AstraZeneca PLC as its present of Global Pharmaceuticals. Miels spent years in Shanghai as Roche's regional vice-president. (Also see "Aiming To Lead A Global Operation? Start In China!" - Scrip, 25 Jan, 2017.)
Meanwhile, Lyn Li, former product manager at Abbott Vascular, has now started a new company, Doule Lynn. Feng (Jason) Ma is now attorney, IP and food and drug law, at JunHe Law Offices.
Abraham KC Ho, previously co-founder and chief medical officer at DC Health, is now partner at J&J Investments Worldwide, Ltd.
GSK, Cipla
There has also been significant personnel movement on the manufacturing front in the Indian pharmaceutical segment. Traditional rivals GlaxoSmithKline and Cipla Ltd. have both seen executive changes over the recent past.
GSK’s Indian arm, GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals Ltd., has brought in Jody Forrest as site director at its Nashik facility in India. Forrest comes with significant experience across GSK’s international sites – his LinkedIn account lists previous responsibilities in the UK, Singapore and Australia, among others.
GSK India confirmed Forrest’s appointment to Scrip and added that prior to his current role the executive led the company’s Worthing secondary site as acting site director.
Forrest’s appointment comes at a significant juncture in the backdrop of new leadership at GSK globally and evolving Indian regulations, including policy proposals to limit manufacturing loan licensing. (Also see "Indian Policy Shifts Could Force Firms To Abandon 'Second Brand' Strategies" - Pink Sheet, 22 Aug, 2017.)
Meanwhile, the Mumbai-headquartered Cipla is understood to have appointed Alan Harris as head of its respiratory manufacturing CoE [centre of excellence]. Harris has had stints with Mylan Laboratories Ltd. and GSK previously. Details in his LinkedIn account indicate that Harris was previously technical head for Mylan’s Dublin respiratory manufacturing site and manager of the technical services team, among other responsibilities.
Cipla confirmed to Scrip that Harris had joined the company a “few months ago”, but shared no specific details around the executive’s role.
Harris is believed to be based in the UK. He joins Cipla at a time when several Indian firms have been struggling with compliance issues, though Cipla has had a generally blemish-free manufacturing record, at least so far. The Indian company has also been expanding its respiratory products footprint – Cipla’s fluticasone propionate/ salmeterol therapy was launched in Australia during June 2017 and the product continues to make progress in Europe. (Also see "Cipla Signals US Launch Momentum, Commodity-Like Price Cycle" - Scrip, 13 Aug, 2017.)
Earlier this year, India’s top-ranked drug firm, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. roped in former Cipla technical director and veteran, Davinder Singh, to play a key role in the organization as it sharpens its thrust to set right plant-related compliance issues. (Also see "Sun Recruits Ex-Cipla Manufacturing Veteran In Compliance Push" - Scrip, 2 Jun, 2017.)
From the editors of PharmAsia News