Novartis has appointed Elizabeth Barrett, currently Global President Oncology at Pfizer, Inc., as the CEO Novartis Oncology and a member of the Executive Committee of Novartis.
She is said to take her role from February, and will be based in Basel. Barrett will succeed Bruno Strigini, who decided to retire from Novartis for personal reasons, the company said.
Vasant Narasimhan, designated CEO of Novartis, said that the new Oncology CEO is a people leader with experience in building successful business organizations globally. “She has been instrumental in creating new commercial models, driving innovation in close partnership with research and development and leveraging business development opportunities. Her long-time commercial pharma industry experience, marketing skills and perspectives make Liz a great fit to further develop our oncology business.”
Barrett said: “I feel honored to join Novartis, a recognized pioneer in the oncology area. It is key to me to contribute to transformative advancements in oncology, and to serve in a highly impactful leadership role to this end.”
Novartis also announced today that Robert Kowalski, Pharm.D., Head of Global Regulatory Affairs, will assume ad interim leadership of the Drug Development Organization, starting also from February. Dr. Kowalski has been Head of Global Regulatory Affairs for Novartis since February 2016 and has played an important leadership role in securing approvals for several breakthrough medicines including our revolutionary CAR-T therapy KymriahTM. The definitive Head of Global Drug Development will be announced in due course, the company said in a press release.
Image: The logo of Swiss drugmaker Novartis is seen at its headquarters in Basel, Switzerland October 22, 2013. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann/File Photo