Genentech has restructured its BioOncology, hematology and managed care groups with several senior sales and marketing appointments.
The company hired John Orwin of Johnson & Johnson’s Ortho Biotech as vice president, sales and marketing for the HER group, a new division encompassing oncology products Herceptin and Tarceva. Orwin, who was vice president, oncology at Ortho Biotech’s Tibotec Therapeutics group, will report to Ian Clark, senior vice president and general manager, BioOncology.
Herceptin (trastuzumab) is Genentech’s second-biggest product behind Rituxan, having grossed $425 million in 2003 sales. Tarceva (erlotinib), a co-market with OSI Pharmaceuticals for advanced non-small cell lung cancer, won Food and Drug Administration approval in November and got a boost earlier this month when a prospective competitor, AstraZeneca’s Iressa (gefitinib), failed to improve patient survival rates in clinical trials.
Also reporting to Clark is Abbott Labs’ Kevin McRaith, who becomes vice president, hematology sales and marketing. McRaith was general manager for the Biaxin franchise at Abbott Labs.
The South San Francisco-based biotech also brought on GlaxoSmithKline’s Kent Lieginger vice president, managed care and customer operations. Lieginger, who was vice president, national insurer and employer segment, managed markets division at GSK, is responsible for strategically aligning two distinct operating groups — managed care and commercial operations support service. He reports to commercial operations president Myrtle Potter and will serve as a manager of the Commercial Leadership Committee.
All three positions are new.
