Merck is looking for stability at the top of its human health business after turnover in the past year.
Frank Clyburn, who most recently served as president of the human health business, last month announced he would depart to take the CEO role at IFF, a New York-based maker of ingredients for food, fragrances and health products.
Clyburn hadn’t yet served a year in the position. He took over in March 2021 from Michael Nally, who himself left for a CEO job at another company.
The New Jersey-based drugmaker has been rebuilding its leadership team after the departure of long-time CEO Kenneth Frazier and research chief Roger Perlmutter in 2021. While the company is conducting an external search for its new Human Health International chief, its other choices show a willingness to promote from within.
Garay has been with the company since 2006 and previously led pharmaceutical global marketing, commercial analytics and digital marketing. Oosthuizen, who formerly helmed Merck’s business in Japan as well as oncology operations in the Asia Pacific and Latin America, has worked at the company since 2014 after a two-decade career at Eli Lilly.
Khanna, meanwhile, has been at Merck since 1988, working his way up from field sales to top roles in the oncology business. The three executives will assume their human health posts as of Feb. 28. They will sit on the executive team and report directly to CEO Robert Davis, Merck said.
By Kristin Jensen
Source: biopharmadive.com
Avivi joins Bayer fresh off a yearlong stint as chief marketing officer of Advance Auto Parts, which followed about three years spent as marketing chief of another auto parts company, Tenneco. Rounding out her nearly 30-year career in marketing are leadership roles at consumer goods giants Kimberly-Clark and Procter & Gamble.
Air Liquide S.A. (Paris) is continuing its development with the acquisition of Homecare activities in Belgium and the Netherlands. The two entities acquired in Belgium and the Netherlands support 10,000 patients living with respiratory insufficiency, sleep apnea syndrome or requiring infusion or nutrition treatments.
US-based Vertex Pharmaceuticals has agreed to pay approximately $4.9 billion in cash to acquire Alpine Immune Sciences, a compatriot biotechnology company focused on discovering and developing innovative, protein-based immunotherapies.
