Bristol-Myers Squibb

Following the completion of the purchase of Celgene, Bristol-Myers Squibb has announced that the company will restructure around two core areas — research and early development (R&ED) and global drug development. Rupert Vessey, who currently serves as president of R&ED at Celgene, will assume the same role at the combined company. Samat Hirawat, current head of oncology development at Novartis, will join the combined company as chief medical officer for global drug development. Chris Boerner will continue in his role as chief commercialization officer, and Nadim Ahmed, current president of global hematology and oncology at Celgene, will serve as president of hematology, to include cell therapy, at the combined company. David Elkins, who is currently chief financial officer of Celgene, will have the same role at the merged drugmaker.

Sanofi

Sanofi has announced the appointment of Paul Hudson as CEO. Hudson was previously head of Novartis’ pharmaceuticals division. Current CEO Olivier Brandicourt will retire September 1.

Novartis

Marie-France Tschudin has been named president of Novartis’ pharmaceuticals division. Tschudin is currently the president of the advanced accelerator applications company at Novartis.

Gilead

Johanna Mercier has been named commercial chief at Gilead, effective July 1. Mercier is currently the president of U.S. and large markets at Bristol Myers-Squibb.

Atara

T cell-focused biotech Atara has named Pascal Touchon as president and CEO of the company. Touchon was previously the head of oncology and global head of the cell and gene therapy unit at Novartis. Atara’s global head of R&D, Dietmar Berger, has resigned from the company to join Sanofi as head of development.

Audentes Therapeutics

San Francisco-based Audentes Therapeutics has appointed Edward R. Conner as senior vice president and chief medical officer, replacing Suyash Prasad. Conner was previously at Sangamo Therapeutics, where he led the clinical development of the company’s pipeline of genomic therapies. Fulvio Mavilio will move up to senior vice president of translational science. The appointments will be effective July 15. The company has announced the departure John Gray, current senior vice president and chief technology officer.

Theravance

Theravance Biopharma has named Andrew Hindman as senior vice president and chief financial officer. Hindman has held several senior executive-level positions in the biopharmaceutical industry, most recently as chief business officer of Acorda Therapeutics.

LabCorp

Adam Schechter has been named CEO and president of LabCorp as David King is set to retire October 31. Schechter, a longtime Merck executive, is currently the president of global human health.

Casebia Therapeutics

Stephen Kennedy has been named as senior vice president and head of technical operations at Casebia Therapeutics. Kennedy formerly served as the chief operating officer for Histogenics Corporation, a restorative cell therapy company.

Dicerna

Dicerna Pharmaceuticals has announced the appointment of Rob Ciappenelli as chief commercial officer. Ciappenelli most recently held leadership roles at Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Shire Pharmaceuticals and Sunovion Pharmaceuticals.

Eisai

Eisai, Inc., the U.S. pharmaceutical subsidiary of Eisai Co., Ltd., has announced the immediate appointment of Patrick Coyle as vice president and chief financial officer. Coyle was formerly vice president of financial planning and analysis at INSMED Inc.

Pfizer

Pfizer has named Jeff Settleman senior vice president and group head of oncology research and development, effective July 1. Settleman was head of oncology research at Calico Life Sciences.

AGC Biologics

Kasper Møller has been appointed chief technical officer at AGC Biologics. Møller has held various roles over twelve years at AGC Biologics, most recently as the site head for Copenhagen.

BIO

Rich Masters has been named executive vice president for public affairs at BIO, effective June 17. Masters previously held a position at Qorvis Communications.

Parexel

Parexel has announced the appointment of Makoto Sugita as senior vice president and general manager – Japan. Sugita most recently served as vice president and head, regional leader of the integrated team for medical, clinical and regulatory in Asia/Pacific medical devices at Johnson & Johnson.

LEO Pharma

LEO Pharma has announced the appointment of Catherine Mazzacco as president and CEO, effective August 1. Mazzacco is currently the head of global commercial operations at GE Healthcare’s BioPharma division.

Immunovant

Immunovant has named Pete Salzmann, M.D., as CEO. Salzmann was most recently global clinical development leader for Eli Lilly’s recently approved Rheumatoid Arthritis drug, Olumiant.