EMD Serono is shaking up its leadership. The biopharmaceutical arm of Germany-based Merck KGaA named Rehan Verjee as the new president of EMD Serono and global head of innovative medicine franchises at the parent company.
EMD Serono is shaking up its leadership. The biopharmaceutical arm of Germany-based Merck KGaA named Rehan Verjee as the new president of EMD Serono and global head of innovative medicine franchises at the parent company.
Verjee will replace Gary Zieziula, who has served as president since 2016. In its announcement this morning, EMD Serono did not disclose details of Zieziula’s departure. The company only said that Zieziula will remain with EMD Serono through the end of 2018 in support of the transition, and noted his success in leading the business over the past four years.
In his new role as president of EMD Serono, Verjee will be responsible for the U.S. and Canada biopharmaceutical business, while “maintaining global accountability for the oncology and neurology and immunology franchises,” the company said. He will assume full responsibility of the new position starting Sept. 1. As president of EMD Serono, Verjee will be based out of the company’s Rockford, Mass. offices.
“Uniting the leadership of North America with our Global Innovative Medicine Franchises will increasingly put North America at the heart of our strategy,” Belén Garijo, chief executive officer of Healthcare at Merck KGaA, said in a statement. “Rehan’s leadership experience and track record of working across commercial and R&D makes him perfectly suited to ensure we are well positioned to deliver on the promise of our innovative medicine efforts.”
For the past three years, Verjee has served as the chief marketing officer for healthcare at Merck KGaA. In that role he has been accountable for the infertility, oncology, and neurology and immunology franchises, the company said. Prior to that, Verjee led the Canadian business as managing director, the company said.
“EMD Serono employees have played a significant role in advancing the treatment of several difficult-to-treat diseases. I look forward to continuing to advance our efforts in these areas and building on this heritage with the introduction of new medicines that hold real promise for even more patients,” Verjee said in a statement.
Verjee has been with Merck KGaA since 2004. He held several management positions prior to his joining the company’s healthcare executive committee in 2015.
For EMD Serono, the change in leadership comes a month after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepted the company’s resubmission of its New Drug Application (NDA) for cladribine tablets as a potential treatment for patients with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis. The FDA initially rejected the medication in 2011. At the time, the regulatory agency sought “an improved understanding of safety risks and the overall benefit-risk profile,” the company noted last month.
