Former ABPI head Richard Barker joins Aegate as senior adviser

Former director general of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) Dr Richard Barker has been appointed senior adviser at Aegate.

The company, which provides authentication and traceability services for the pharmaceutical industry, also announced the appointment of former head of Asia for Thomson Reuters' financial markets business, Michael Peace, as its new CEO.

The changes come as the European pharma industry faces is challenged with taking more stringent measures against counterfeit drugs, following the implementation of new EU rules on falsified medicines.

The regulation specifies methods to be enforced by companies, including features that must appear on the outer packaging of medicines to demonstrate authenticity and an obligation for manufacturers and distributors to report any suspicion of falsified medicines.

Barker has great experience in pharma having spent almost seven years in charge of UK industry association the ABPI up to May 2011 when he stepped down from his role.

He also currently holds the position of director of the Oxford Centre for Accelerating Medical Innovations, acts as an advisor to several healthcare companies and received an OBE for services to the UK pharmaceutical industry in the recent New Year Honours list.

Barker's previous positions include chief executive of Chiron Diagnostics, a global diagnostics company, and general manager of IBM's Worldwide Healthcare Solutions business. He also served as a board member of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA).

Aegate's new CEO Peace replaces Gary Noon who spent six years in charge of the company.

Although lacking in pharmaceutical experience, Peace has pedigree building a number of financial information and trading businesses in Asia, the US and Europe.

Sir David Cooksey, chairman of Aegate, said: "Michael's experience of building teams and businesses across multiple geographies and Richard's substantial pharmaceutical industry expertise will be invaluable, now that new European Legislation for falsified medicines has made it clear that patient safety systems such as Aegate's are going to become a legal requirement."