Brand R&D, which Botox-maker Allergan championed during its takeover battle with first but unsuccessful bidder Valeant, will report directly to Mr Saunders.
“This combined leadership will ensure that the new company capitalises on our expanded global commercial footprint, maintains our continued dominance as a world leader in generics and that we elevate our commitment to brand innovation and development,” Mr Saunders said.
While the appointments may se quick – the companies announced their merger pact late last year – -Mr Saunders hopes laying out his plans early will help get shareholders–and, perhaps more importantly, ployees – on board with the plan.
Mr Saunders could use the support as he navigates his beefed-up leadership role, a big leap from a previous job as Bausch + Lomb CEO. After engineering the sale of that company to Valeant, Mr Saunders jumped to CEO at Forest Labs, only to help orchestrate an Actavis pickup of that company. As Actavis chief, he’ll be responsible for running a top-10 global pharma company with about $23 billion in sales, The Wall Street Journal notes.
And he’ll have his hands full as Actavis works to hit the goals managent laid out with the merger announcent, including revenue growth of at least 8% a year – a high mark for a drug-maker of the new company’s size, with Big Pharmas typically managing top- and bottom-line growth of no more than a few percentage points a year, the WSJ points out.
But despite the company’s size, Mr Saunders isn’t planning to run Actavis like some of its larger pharma peers. “We don’t want to be a big, bureaucratic company,” he told the newspaper.
UNSW named No. 1 in world for optometry research excellence
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