Novo Nordisk, Ensemble Discovery, Nitec Pharma and Benda Pharmaceutical - People on the move
Pharmaceutical have all had people on the move in the world of
Pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Novo Nordisk has announced the appointment of Jerzy Gruhn as president of the Danish company's US affiliate, Novo Nordisk Inc, and senior vice president of Novo Nordisk North America. Gruhn will move from his current position of vice president of the Eastern Europe region. He replaces Martin Soeters, who will be taking up the position of senior vice president European region, overseeing the company's operations in 35 countries. "We are making these changes at a time when Novo Nordisk is doing well in both Europe and North America and are confident that we have the right leadership to secure our future growth in the two regions," Novo Nordisk executive vice president and chief operating officer Kare Schultz said. Gruhn has been with the company for 11 years. Soeters has spent 27 years with Novo Nordisk. He took over the responsibility for the company's operations in the North American region in 2000. US-based biotechnology company Ensemble Discovery has named Michael Taylor as president and chief executive. Taylor, who has been in the pharmaceutical industry for more than 20 years, has also been appointed to the company's board of directors. Most recently, Taylor served as senior vice president for Pfizer's global R & D division where he was responsible for global project and portfolio management. In other positions with Pfizer, Taylor led discovery and early and late-stage development projects across multiple therapeutic areas, including Lipitor (atorvastatin calcium) and Neurontin (gabapentin). "We are thrilled to welcome an experienced executive of Mike's calibre to Ensemble Discovery," Ensemble discovery chairman Noubar Afeyan said. "Mike brings a wealth of experience in the pharmaceutical industry and a track record of success that will be critical as we further develop our drug discovery and biodetection programmes." Swiss biopharmaceutical company Nitec Pharma has announced the appointment of Anders Harfstrand as chief executive. Harfstrand brings almost 20 years senior level pharmaceutical experience to the position. Most recently he was senior executive vice president at Serono, and previously held several executive positions at Pfizer and Pharmacia. "I am extremely pleased that Anders has joined the Nitec Pharma team," Nitec board of directors member Karl Nagler said. "He has tremendous worldwide operational experience and expressive expertise in sales, marketing and business development. With Anders joining Nitec's management board, we expect continued strong performance from Nitec going forward." The company also announced the appointment of Andrea Buscaglia as chief financial officer, Meanwhile, China-based pharmaceutical company Benda Pharmaceutical has appointed Jinghai Xu as general manager of the Benda Ebei plant. A licensed pharmacist and senior economist, Xu has more than 35 years of experience in the Chinese pharmaceutical industry. Most recently, he served as associate general manager of Wuhan Fuxing Biological Pharmaceutical Co. "Mr Xu's experience, knowledge of the pharmaceutical industry and proven track record make him a valuable asset to our company. The addition of Mr Xu is an example of the efforts Benda is making to further strengthen its core management and increase shareholder value from the inside out," Benda chairman and chief executive Yiqing Wan said.
