Former Bausch + Lomb CEO to lead Forest Labs

Forest Laboratories has named the former head of Bausch + Lomb, Brenton Saunders, as the company's new CEO and president, effective October 1.

He succeeds Howard Solomon, who has been one of the longest serving CEOs in the pharma industry, having been in his role at Forest since 1977.

Saunders, who has been a director at Forest for the past two years, described his predecessor as an “industry icon”.

“I have deep admiration for him and look forward to his continued counsel as we take Forest into the future,” he said.

At just 43, Saunders is relatively young among pharma CEOs, but he has plenty of senior experience, serving as head of Bausch + Lomb from 2010 to August 2013, during which time the eyecare specialist was purchased by Valeant Pharmaceuticals for $8.7bn.

Prior to this, he spent six years at Schering-Plough, serving in several senior positions including president of global consumer healthcare. While at Schering-Plough he also served as integrations head for the company's acquisition in 2007 of Organon BioSciences and during the company's 2009 merger with Merck & Co.

Saunders has a background in economics, and his experience prior to joining the pharma industry includes time as a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers and as senior VP, compliance, legal and regulatory at Homecare Corporation of America.

Kenneth Goodman, who was a member of Forest's committee of independent directors to pick a successor to Solomon, said that they had been considering Saunders as a likely candidate for a long time.

“We are delighted that, following the recent sale of Bausch + Lomb, Brent became available at just the right time,” he said. “He is strategic, innovative, experienced and the right leader for Forest today,” Goodman said.