Merck Serono Strengthens Executive Management Team With Two Appointments

Belén Garijo joins as Chief Operating Officer

12-Jul-2011 - Germany

Merck KGaA announced that the Merck Serono division is strengthening its executive management team with two appointments. Dr. Belén Garijo has been appointed Chief Operating Officer, effective September 1, 2011. Dr. Annalisa Jenkins has been appointed Global Head of Drug Development & Medical, effective September 5, 2011. In their newly created positions, both Garijo and Jenkins will be based in Geneva and report directly to Dr. Stefan Oschmann, member of Merck’s Executive Board and head of Merck Serono.

Garijo joins Merck Serono from Sanofi, where she was Senior Vice President, Global Operations Region Europe. Jenkins joins from Bristol-Myers Squibb, where she was Senior Vice President, Global Medical.

As Chief Operating Officer, Garijo will have responsibility for worldwide commercial operations and marketing. The primary purpose of her role is to define a highly competitive commercial and marketing strategy to strengthen Merck Serono’s product brands and lead its global business to profitable growth across all therapeutic areas. One of her top priorities at Merck Serono will be to define the future Commercial & Marketing organizational structure and efficient processes to drive the successful implementation of the business strategy.

A new organizational structure for R&D will be effective when Jenkins joins Merck Serono. Two dedicated groups, focusing on different stages of pharmaceutical innovation (pre- and post- proof of concept), will be created as a first step in redesigning Merck Serono’s R&D model:

The Global Research & Early Development Group, headed by Dr. Bernhard Kirschbaum, will include discovery, research and early clinical development, through to proof of concept;
The Global Drug Development and Medical Group, headed by A. Jenkins, will focus on full clinical development, medical life-cycle management activities and medical, including regulatory and safety functions.

A key priority for Bernhard Kirschbaum and Annalisa Jenkins will be defining the structures and processes of the new R&D organization, with the goal of simplifying the organizational structure, governance and decision-making processes. The new organizational structure for R&D is expected to foster agility, creativity and entrepreneurship and to allow a more efficient use of resources, with the ultimate goal of delivering innovative medicines that address the unmet needs of patients.

https://www.bionity.com/en/news/133500/merck-serono-strengthens-executive-management-team-with-two-appointments.html