Organizations or individuals desiring change is often the reason for retirements, but the timing is often crucial and so it proved for two major institutions in the UK.
The UK’s MHRA and NICE are two of the most respected organizations when it comes to regulatory and the evaluation of effectiveness for treatments. However, both are now faced looking for new leadership ahead of any Brexit decision, after leadership retirements.
A similar story was seen in the industry itself, with Roche and Boehringer Ingelheim both losing some of its most experienced members of their leadership teams.
Organizations or individuals desiring change is often the reason for retirements, but the timing is often crucial and so it proved for two major institutions in the UK.
The UK’s MHRA and NICE are two of the most respected organizations when it comes to regulatory and the evaluation of effectiveness for treatments. However, both are now faced looking for new leadership ahead of any Brexit decision, after leadership retirements.
A similar story was seen in the industry itself, with Roche and Boehringer Ingelheim both losing some of its most experienced members of their leadership teams.
The imminent retirement of Sandra Horning, Roche’s longstanding CMO, sparked a search for her replacement, and the answer was found in Levi Garraway.
Garraway will arrive at Roche, and its subsidiary, Genentech, as their new CMO, joining the Switzerland-based company after previously being employed as SVP, oncology R&D at Eli Lilly. Garraway will step into the role prior to Horning’s retirement, taking up the position October 1, 2019.
The new CMO will bring to Roche his expertise on oncology, particularly as one of the major contributors to precision cancer medicine. He has previously worked on profiling human tumors by gene mutation, allowing for the stratification of cancer patients for clinical trial recruitment.
For Horning’s part, Roche highlighted that 15 new medicines were brought through to patients under her watch during her period with the company, which lasted for a decade.
Bayer announces that Marianne De Backer will join the company as its new head of business development & licensing of its Pharmaceuticals division. In addition, De Backer will become a member of the executive committee.
Regarding her remit in the position, Stefan Oelrich, president of the company's Pharmaceuticals division, said, "[De Backer’s] breadth of experience in successfully forming and managing external alliances will be one of the key drivers for Bayer's continued growth, ultimately aimed at providing new medicines and solutions to patients."
De Backer joins Bayer from Johnson & Johnson, where she led M&A operations and divestitures for the pharmaceutical group.
As well as working at Bayer, she will retain her role as a member of the board of directors at EcoHealth Alliance, the same position at Gladstone Foundation, and as a member of the advisory board at Biocom.
June Raine will step into the interim role of chief executive of the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). She will replace outgoing chief executive, Ian Hudson, who has stepped down six years in the role and 18 years with the agency.
Raine has worked at the agency since its formation in 2003 and currently holds the position of director of the agency’s Vigilance and Risk Management of Medicines division. In addition, she held the role of chair of the European Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee for the European Medicines Agency from 2012 to 2018.
Outgoing chief executive, Dr Ian Hudson, said: “It has been a pleasure and privilege to have worked with so many able and committed people over the past 18 years. Our agency makes a real difference to the health of millions of people in the UK, Europe and beyond, and it has been an honor to make a contribution to this work.”
After 21 years as the chief executive of the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, it has been announced that Andrew Dillon will step down from the role.
Dillon has led the institute since its inception in 1999 and his leaving date is set for the end of March, 2020.
NICE’s chair, David Haslam, said, “The role of chief executive of NICE must be one of the most challenging and potentially controversial in British public life.”
The controversy of the role stems from NICE’s role of determining whether a treatment is cost effective for use by the NHS, which can lead to the rejection of therapies that have a higher price tag or that lack long-term data to prove it remains effective into the future.
Dillon’s reputation across the industry is such that Mike Thompson, the outgoing chief executive of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, an organization that has occasionally crossed horns with NICE over the assessment of new medicines, reserved praise for the outgoing chief executive.
“[Dillon] has played a central role in building the credibility of the organization, insisting on transparent processes, and a continuous dialogue with all stakeholders, recognizing that as the science evolves, NICE needs to evolve too,” Thomson said.
NICE stated that its board would begin the process of finding a new leader during autumn.
Boehringer Ingelheim rings the changes at the boardroom level, with three longstanding board members leaving, being replaced by internal appointments.
Allan Hillgrove, a member of the board of managing directors responsible for the Human Pharma and Biopharma business, will step down from his position and retire from the company. Hillgrove has been with Boehringer for 37 years, beginning initially as a sales representative before working his way up to his current role in 2013.
Replacing Hillgrove will be Carine Brouillon, who joined the company from Janssen in 2018. Brouillon is the current head of global therapeutic areas for the company and will step into the new role beginning January 1, 2020.
Joachim Hasenmaier will also retire at the end of this year, leaving his position on the board of managing directors and from his role as head of the Animal Health business. Similar to Hillgrove, he has spent a number of years at the company – by the time of his departure, he will have been with the company over 18 years.
Replacing Hasenmaier in the position will be Jean Scheftsik de Szolnok, who is the current managing director for Boehringer’s business in France.
The final retirement will be Andreas Neumann, who leaves the company at the end of this month. Neumann holds a position on the board of managing directors and is head of human resources. Rather than replace him, the company has decided instead to merge his responsibilities with that of the chairman of the board, Hubertus von Baumbach.
