Senior heads depart AstraZeneca and Takeda
pharmafile | June 25, 2015 | News story | Medical Communications, Sales and Marketing | AstraZeneca, Briggs Morrison, François-Xavier Roger, James Ward-Lilley, Takeda, brett wells
AstraZeneca vice president James Ward-Lilley and Takeda’s chief financial officer François-Xavier Roger are both exiting their respective companies and moving away from big pharma.
For AstraZeneca this could be a cause for concern as it marks the second senior level departure this month, following R&D head Briggs Morrison who played an instrumental part in defending its takeover by Pfizer, but who has just left to head Syndax Pharmaceuticals.
Now British respiratory drug firm Vectura is taking Ward-Lilley from AZ to be its chief executive and executive director. He will succeed Dr Chris Blackwell who leaves at the end of this month.
Ward-Lilley joins in October from AZ where he is a vice president for its respiratory, inflammation and autoimmunity unit. Prior to this he led the firm’s investor relations team from 2011 to 2012.
He has had an extensive career there spanning 28 years across a variety of commercially focussed roles, progressing from sales and marketing in the UK through to country head of Belgium and Luxembourg – a position he held between 2002 and 2005.
Ward-Lilley then led AstraZeneca’s business in China and went on to become regional vice president for Central Eastern Europe. Dr Trevor Phillips will act as Vectura’s interim chief executive from the end of June until Ward-Lilley joins.
Vectura chairman Bruno Angelici says: “We are delighted that James is joining as chief executive. His significant relevant experience in the respiratory market which he has gained within a major global pharmaceutical company will be a considerable asset for Vectura.”
Ward-Lilley adds: “I am delighted to have accepted the role of chief executive of Vectura and to build on the already strong foundations that are in place. I am looking forward to driving the business forward and ensuring the company achieves its goal on becoming a speciality pharmaceutical company.”
Meanwhile in other industry senior strife Japan’s Takeda has confirmed that François-Xavier Roger is resigning from the company to become chief financial officer of Nestlé.
Roger joined Takeda in 2013 as its first global CFO with the mission to integrate Takeda’s global finance functions.
Takeda president and chief executive Christophe Weber, says: “François’ departure does not signal a change in our strategy, which we are just starting to execute. François has played a great role to support the transformation of Takeda into a global leader, and I enjoyed working with him. Of course, his stay at Takeda has been too short and we are disappointed by his decision.”
Brett Wells
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