Bristol-Myers Squibb Company announced the future leadership team of the combined company effective upon completion of the company’s pending merger with Celgene Corporation . The company is evolving key aspects of its R&D and Commercialization structure to drive the continued growth of a highly successful marketed portfolio, maximize the six near-term launch opportunities and deliver the value of the combined pipeline, all guided by its continued mission of serving patients with serious disease. The business will be supported by a lean infrastructure to enable efficiency and agility.
"I'm looking forward to working with this Leadership Team as we combine the strengths of Bristol-Myers Squibb and Celgene to enhance the value of our marketed portfolio, deliver six significant new product launches and realize the full potential of our deep and broad pipeline," said Giovanni Caforio, M.D., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Bristol-Myers Squibb. "We are building on a strong track record of best-in-class commercial execution, industry-leading science and a culture of collaboration and innovation. Together, we will create the leading biopharma company, one that will be known for pursuing the best science to create highly innovative medicines that bring meaningful benefits to patients and value to shareholders."
Research & Development
The new structure will focus on the innovation core to both companies’ success, pairing internal discovery with strong partnerships that provide access to external innovation. To deliver on the full value of its R&D capabilities, Bristol-Myers Squibb is evolving the structure and leadership around two core functional areas, Research & Early Development (R&ED) and Global Drug Development.
Rupert Vessey, M.A., B.M., B.Ch., F.R.C.P., D.Phil., will serve as President, Research & Early Development, reporting to Caforio and serving as a member of the Leadership Team. Vessey is the current President, Research & Early Development at Celgene. Under Vessey's leadership, the R&ED organization will work as a cohesive unit across Discovery, Early Development and Translational Medicine to advance promising assets through the early pipeline. Vessey will oversee the company’s expanded range of discovery platforms to drive scientific advancements across therapeutic areas and will work closely with Business Development to identify external sources of innovation.
Samit Hirawat, M.D., will join Bristol-Myers Squibb as the Chief Medical Officer, Global Drug Development, leading the development organization across therapeutic areas. Hirawat will report to Caforio and will serve as a member of the Leadership Team. Hirawat will be joining from Novartis where he was most recently Executive Vice President and Head of Oncology Development. Hirawat brings extensive experience in a range of roles in drug development. Under his leadership, the development organization will ensure progression of pipeline assets from proof-of-concept to commercialization through world-class clinical trial design and operations.
Tom Lynch, M.D., will continue to serve as Executive Vice President & Chief Scientific Officer, reporting to Caforio and serving as a member of the Leadership Team until he departs the company by October 1, 2019, to pursue opportunities in healthcare. Lynch has played a significant role in evolving R&D, including enhancing the company's translational medicine capabilities and increasing its focus on disease biology and data and analytics.
"I want to thank Tom for joining the company from our Board of Directors, for his leadership as Chief Scientific Officer in building new capabilities in R&D and for his support during this period of transition," said Caforio.
Commercialization
With nine $1 billion-plus marketed products, six near-term launch opportunities and four strengthened global franchises of Oncology, Hematology, Immunology and Cardiovascular, our combined company is well positioned for continued growth.
Two experienced and proven leaders will work closely together to ensure that Bristol-Myers Squibb's commercialization organization continues to deliver superior in-market performance and successfully launch new products, leveraging existing strong capabilities acros...
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