BD taps Novartis, GSK alum Laura Boros to lead drug delivery device business

In its hunt for the new head of its pharmaceutical systems business—which makes syringes, self-injection systems and other drug delivery devices for 70% of the top 100 drugmakers in the world, according to the company—BD landed on a candidate with plenty of experience among that customer group.

The new president of the devicemaker’s pharmaceutical systems unit is Laura Boros, BD announced Thursday, with her appointment taking effect immediately.

In her new role, Boros will oversee the business’ strategic, operational and commercial performance and will report to Mike Garrison, Ph.D., the recently named president of BD’s medical segment, which encompasses the pharma systems business as well as the medication delivery solutions and medication management solutions units.

She’s filling a spot left vacant since late 2022, when the pharma systems unit’s former president, Eric Borin, began heading up the medication delivery solutions business instead.

Laura Boros BD
(BD)

Boros joins BD after about three years at British consumer goods maker Reckitt, where she served as senior vice president of the nutrition department. Before that, she spent the better part of a decade in Big Pharma: first, with a two-year term as a general manager in the over-the-counter business of Novartis, and then, in 2015, as Novartis handed off control of much of its OTC portfolio to GSK, clocking about five years as a senior VP in GSK’s consumer healthcare portfolio.

Before that, in addition to a three-year posting as a regional VP of Hertz’s European arm, Boros spent nearly a decade and a half at Procter & Gamble, culminating in a stint as marketing director of the manufacturing giant’s entire Western European business.

Garrison said in BD’s announcement that Boros’ resume makes her “uniquely suited” to lead the medtech giant’s pharmaceutical systems business.

“Her global experience, coupled with her track record of driving innovation across the healthcare and consumer industries, will support the next generation of PS growth as it continues to enhance the delivery of medications for the pharmaceutical industry and patients around the world,” he said.

The pharma systems business is among the larger half of BD’s eight main operating units. It also boasted the highest year-over-year growth of the entire company for BD’s fiscal year 2022, which ended Sept. 30.

For the full year, the unit brought in just over $2 billion, representing a 9.5% bump over 2021’s total. The entire medical segment, meanwhile, grew by only 5.7% on an as-reported basis, while the whole company’s $18.87 billion in revenues fell 1.4% year over year.