AstraZeneca appoints Lisa Anson UK country president

AstraZeneca has promoted Lisa Anson to country president of its UK marketing company.

She will take charge of AstraZeneca's entire UK sales force as well as a sales and marketing team based in Luton and a clinical research group in Edinburgh.

The position is not Anson's first role with the AstraZeneca's UK marketing company, having previously worked as both head of primary care and head of speciality care.

Anson has also previously served as vice president of emerging brands within the company's global marketing and sales operations, and has also held a number of senior global brand roles at the pharma company.

She takes over the UK presidency from Mark Jones, who AstraZeneca has appointed area vice president for Southern Europe and Israel.

The company said Anson's priority would be to build a stronger relationship with the UK's NHS, which is currently undergoing major reforms, with a focus on delivering innovative medicines to patients sooner.

This is in line with comments from Stephen Whitehead, CEO of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical (ABPI), who said in an interview with PMLiVE: “The only way we can help the NHS is by being a partner.”

Anson will start her new role at AstraZeneca on January 1, 2012.