The appointment is effective April 2, 2019
Glenmark Pharmaceuticals announced the appointment of Alessandro Riva as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of its new innovation company based in the US. “Alessandro is currently Executive Vice President, Oncology Therapeutics and Cell Therapy for Gilead Sciences. The appointment is effective April 2, 2019,” Glenmark Pharma said in a regulatory filing.
On February 14, this year, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals had announced it has received in-principle approval from its board of directors to spin off the innovation business into a new company headquartered in the US.
“The new company will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Glenmark and will operate with Alessandro Riva as the CEO, a management team and an independent Board of Directors,” the company added.
“We are pleased that Alessandro will assume the role of CEO of the new innovation business,” said Glenn Saldanha, CMD, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals. “His extensive and diverse industry experience leading global R&D will no doubt be invaluable in driving our pipeline towards commercialisation. We are excited for this major step as a company and are confident Alessandro’s talent and leadership will shape the innovation business into a major global biotech company.”
Alessandro also worked in companies including Novartis, Rhône-Poulenc Rorer and Aventis, France. The new innovation company will be headquartered in Paramus, New Jersey. Global locations include two R&D centres in Switzerland, the R&D centre at Mahape, Navi Mumbai, India, and the good manufacturing practises (GMP) biologics manufacturing facility in Switzerland, Glenmark said. The new company will include around 400 employees working to provide an enhanced focus on the innovation business and help accelerate the pipeline towards commercialisation.
Glenmark said, its innovative products pipeline at present has eight assets, including new chemical entities (NCEs) and new biological entities (NBEs), in various stages of development in the areas of immunology, oncology and pain management. “The pipeline includes an immuno-oncology pipeline with three bispecific antibodies developed through Glenmark’s proprietary BEAT (Bispecific Engagement by Antibodies based on the T cell receptor) platform.”