Merck KGaA has made several changes to the leadership of its pharmaceutical business.
At the start of next year Stefan Oschmann (top right), current CEO for pharma, will move to a new role as deputy CEO of the entire group. He will also become vice chairman of the executive board.
Oschmann will be replaced by Belén Garijo (bottom right), current CEO of Merck’s biotech division Merck Serono in a move that will expand her responsibilities, adding oversight for consumer health, allergy and biosimilars.
Johannes Baillou, chairman of the board of partners of Merck, said: “With today’s management decisions we strengthen Merck’s leadership team and prepare the ground for continuity to reach our ambitious growth targets until the year 2018 and beyond.”
The announced comes one year after Garijo left her role as Merck Serono’s chief operating officer to replace Oschmann as CEO of the division.
Garijo’s career prior to joining Merck in 2011 included a spell at Sanofi, where she led global integrations of the company’s acquisition of Genzyme.
Oschmann also joined Merck in 2011, having spent the previous 11 years at its US-based namesake Merck & Co, known as MSD outside the US and Canada.