Moderna announced Tuesday that it has hired Chantal Friebertshäuser as SVP of commercial for Europe, the Middle East and Canada.
Most recently, Friebertshäuser served in global commercial leadership roles at Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD) for 15 years, including as human health SVP and managing director at MSD Germany. Before her stint at MSD, she worked in various roles at Eli Lilly.
In the new role effective January 1, 2023, Friebertshäuser will be based in Switzerland and report to Moderna chief commercial officer Arpa Garay. In April, the company hired Garay away from Merck following a 16-year career.
“Chantal has extensive experience in leading global teams and scaling commercial organizations regionally,” Garay said in a statement. “Her insights, drive and commitment to patients will be instrumental as we enter new markets and advance our platform-based approach to medicine. Having worked with her previously, I know first-hand that she will be a terrific addition to the organization.”
Friebertshäuser’s hire is the latest in a slew of leadership changes made by Moderna throughout 2022 as the company expanded its headcount to 3,700 employees.
Earlier this month, the company announced that it appointed Brad Miller to serve as chief information officer, replacing Marcello Damiani.
At the end of September, the pharma company announced that chief technical operations and quality officer Juan Andres would transition into the role of president of strategic partnerships and enterprise expansion. Meanwhile, the company also added Novartis veteran Dr. Jerh Collins, Ph.D. to take over Andres’ previous role.
Additionally, Moderna appointed James Mock as its CFO, months after the company’s previous CFO left following two days on the job.
Beyond the personnel moves, Moderna has been busy as of late, releasing a mixed bag of financials to end the year and unveiling promising clinical news.
Last week, Moderna and Merck announced that a combination of an investigational personalized mRNA cancer vaccine and Keytruda showed efficacy in patients with Stage III/IV melanoma. Days before that, the company received emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration for its Omicron-specific bivalent COVID-19 booster for children between 6 months and 5 years old.
