Dive Brief:
- GlaxoSmithKline plc has picked up Kevin Sin as SVP and head of worldwide business development for pharmaceuticals research & development.
- Sin's previous role was at Roche AG's Genentech, where he was VP and global head of oncology business development. He will start his new role in July.
- Since her recruitment as the first female CEO of a big pharma, Emma Walmsley has been making some major changes at the UK-based company, including bringing on board Hal Barron as CSO, also a Roche alumnus.
Dive Insight:
This isn't the first time that Walmsley has tapped into Roche's pool of expertise during her short tenure. Hal Barron, the company's new CSO and president of R&D, came over from Calico (California Life Sciences LLC), an Alphabet-funded company, in January. Barron's previous role was as EVP, head of global product development and CMO at Roche.
Business development will be key to the British pharma's future as it looks to fill the pipeline beyond its three near-term blockbuster hopefuls, particularly as it faces falling sales for Advair (fluticasone furoate/salmeterol), a top-selling respiratory drug that is likely to face generic competition this year.
Recruiting Kevin Sin and Hal Barron signal GlaxoSmithKline's commitment to R&D, following last year's major pipeline overhaul, which axed over 30 programs, including seven in Phase 2 and Phase 3. There will be more changes in 2018, Walmsley reported on the company's fourth quarter earnings call back in February, with some programs being accelerated and others deprioritized.
Walmsley has also made other key changes to her executive team, and around 40% of the reports to the executive team have also changed, with a mix of internal promotions and external recruitment. In July 2017, Laurie Glimcher joined the board as a non-executive director, and Karenann Terrell was appointed chief digital & technology officer.
Currently, GSK is riding the potential of three products. Shingles vaccine Shingrix, approved in October 2017, looks to be getting good pharmacy coverage across the U.S. Trelegy Ellipta, an inhaled combo of fluticasone furoate, umeclidinium and vilanterol for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease approved in September 2017, was the first Food and Drug Administration approval for a once-daily, three-in-one inhaler for COPD and is at least a year ahead of its nearest rival. And Juluca, which combines GSK's Tivicay and Johnson & Johnson's Edurant (dolutegravir/rilpivirine), is the first two-drug regimen for maintenance treatment of HIV-1. GSK had used a precious priority review voucher to push that drug through FDA review.