Michael Varney, head of small molecule drug discovery at Roche, has been appointed to lead research and early development at the company’s Genentech unit. He will also join the company’s executive committee effective 1 January 2015. Dr Varney is replacing Richard Scheller who has retired. Dr Varney was vice president of drug discovery at Pfizer before joining Genentech in 2005. Genentech was acquired by Roche in 2009.
Roche will also nominate two new members to its board of directors at its annual general meeting on 3 March 2015. They are Bernard Poussot, the former chief executive of Wyeth Corp (now Pfizer), and Richard Lifton, professor of genetics at the Yale University School of Medicine.
Roche announced the appointments on 12 December 2014.
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