GSK appoints head of genetics organisation

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has announced the appointment of Lon Cardon as head of the company’s genetics organisation.

Mr Cardon will combine medical genetics and pharmacogenetics into a single integrated function at the firm, with the main focus of this new group to be the prediction of individual differences in drug response.

It will also continue to support identification and validation of new disease targets.

Mr Cardon joins the firm from the University of Washington where he was professor of biostatistics and Fred Hutchison Cancer Research Centre where he has served as co-director of the Herbold Computational Biology Programme.

Patrick Vallance, senior vice-president of drug discovery at the firm, said: “Human disease genetics has made several major breakthroughs in the last two to three years.

“Large consortia have identified genetic variants with robust and reproducible disease modifying effects.”

He added that the present challenge is the integration of these scientific advances into the field of drug discovery and development and to ascertain whether or not the existence of common genetic variances can alter how we should use medications.

At the start of the month, senior vice-president and general manager of UK pharmaceuticals at GSK Eddie Gray replaced chief executive officer designate Andrew Witty as president of pharmaceuticals in Europe at the firm.