AstraZeneca rejiggers top executive crew

Welcome to this week's roundup of hirings and firings throughout the industry. Please send the good word (or the bad) from your shop to Alison Bryant (email | Twitter) and we will feature it here each Friday.

AstraZeneca rejiggers top executive crew

A little more than four months after taking the helm at AstraZeneca ($AZN), CEO Pascal Soriot rejiggered the company's top executive crew. Martin Mackay, R&D chief, and Tony Zook, executive vice president, global commercial, are out. Now the global R&D operation will be divvied among three key players: Mene Pangalos, MedImmune's Bahija Jallal and Briggs Morrison. They will each be given one of three tasks: Head of discovery and early development of small molecules, running early-stage work on biologics (MedImmune's role), and late-stage development. And now, commercial activities will be split three ways, along geographic lines. Paul Hudson will take the reins in North America, with Ruud Dobber in charge in Europe and Mark Mallon internationally. All will be executive vice presidents. "This new senior executive team structure, that draws heavily from the leadership talent within the company, enables us to bring an even sharper management focus to key pipeline assets, key brands and key markets, and helps us further accelerate decision-making," said Soriot in a statement. Release | Story | Report


Menelas Pangalos--AstraZeneca
Pangalos will serve as executive vice president, Innovative Medicines.
 



John Reed--Roche
Reed will serve as head of pharma research, early development.



Barbara Jaszewski--Lundbeck
Jaszewski will serve as VP, global pricing and market access.
 

Biotech

> Barbara Jaszewski joined Lundbeck to serve as vice president of global pricing and market access. Jaszewski joins the company from Bayer Healthcare, where she worked as director of global market access for the EMEA region and Canada. Story

> Tranzyme Pharma ($TZYM) bumped David Moore up to chief business officer. Moore joined Tranzyme in August 2011 after serving as vice president of commercial operations at Johnson & Johnson ($JNJ). In his new role as chief business officer, Moore will be responsible for corporate development, including new discovery collaborations and advancing new opportunities for clinical stage assets, in addition to an increase in general management responsibilities. Release

CompuMed granted its open CEO position to board of directors President W. Scott Rombach. Taking over for Maurizio Vecchione, who stepped down as CEO in December, Rombach will continue his board presidency, as well. Release

Julia A. Stephanus joins Aratana Therapeutics as the company's chief commercial officer. An experienced animal health executive, Stephanus looks to advance Aratana's pipeline of companion animal medicines. Release

Icon ($ICLR) appointed Robert L. Howie as chief marketing officer. Howie formerly worked at Palladium Group, where he was a co-founder, managing director and chief marketing officer. Release

Moderna Therapeutics has appointed Divakar Ramakrishnan as senior vice president of process development, manufacturing and quality. Ramakrishnan previously was vice president of manufacturing at Eli Lilly ($LLY). Release

Galectin Therapeutics ($GALT) has appointed Rex Horton as executive director of regulatory affairs and quality assurance. Horton most recently was director of regulatory affairs at Chelsea Therapeutics. Release

Georgia Bio hired C. Russell Allen as president and CEO. Allen previously served as president and CEO of BioFlorida. Release

Supernus Pharmaceuticals ($SUPN) brought on Victor Vaughn as its senior vice president of sales, placing him in charge of all of the company's sales activities. Release

La Jolla Pharmaceutical hired Stacey Ruiz as its director of research and development and Chester S. Zygmont III as its director of finance. La Jolla specializes in the inhibitor galectin-3, a molecular target implicated in chronic organ failure and cancer. Release

> Pearl Therapeutics strengthened its team by adding Michael Riebe as vice president of pharmaceutical development and research. Riebe was vice president of research and development at iCeutica prior to joining Pearl. Release

Pharma

> Roche ($RHHBY) picked up John C. Reed, the CEO of the prestigious Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute in La Jolla, CA, to serve as its new chief of Pharma Research and Early Development. The move bumps interim R&D chief Mike Burgess out of a job. "Appointing a new head of pRED from the outside is viewed as an excellent move in order to reposition this organizational unit within Roche," Kepler Capital Markets analyst Martin Voegtli said, according to Reuters.  Release | Story

> Matt Regan became general manager at newly launched AbbVie ($ABBV). Regan previously served as general manager at Abbott Pharmaceuticals ($ABT) in Norway. News

Healthcare Consulting

> MSI Consultancy appointed David Watson as senior consultant, specializing in channel strategy. Watson's most recent role was at Pfizer ($PFE), where he served as commercial director and head of business intelligence in Europe for Pfizer Specialty Care. Story