Pascal Soriot rings the changes in AZ

AstraZeneca in new management shake-up Both Martin Mackay, president of research and development, and Tony Zook, global commercial executive vice president, have had their roles "eliminated" and are to leave the company at the end of January. Under a significant management restructure, Mr Soriot has also promoted three members of research and development staff, responsible for drug discovery and development from early to late stages, to his senior executive team, in a sign that the company sees organic drug making as crucial to its future success. There will also be another three roles at senior executive level representing commerical regions North America, Europe and international, and a further role responsible for global portfolio and strategy. With the exception of the latter role, all new jobs created have been filled internally. The changes come ahead of AstraZeneca's full-year results, on January 31, where Mr Soriot is expected to outline his strategy and vision for the ailing drugs maker that is facing one of the steepest patent "cliffs" in the global pharmaceuticals industry. The decision to remove two key posts from the leadership team is understood to reflect Mr Soriot's desire to cut out unnecessary layers of management and improve accountability at the company, instead giving a voice to research and development managers at the coalface. Mr Soriot, a former Roche executive, is striving to return AstraZeneca to health in the face of one of the industry's st...
Source: PharmaGossip - Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: Source Type: blogs