Shire appointment ‘responsible for strategic direction of product pipeline’

Shire has announced the appointment of a new senior vice-president of research and development for its speciality pharmaceuticals business.

It said Dr Jeffrey Jonas would assume responsibility for the establishment of the strategic direction of the company’s new product pipeline, including the attainment of research and development milestones.

Dr Jonas has previously held a number of top research and development positions at other firms and was most recently executive vice-president at Isis Pharmaceuticals in charge of clinical and pre-clinical development, quality assurance, regulatory affairs and compliance.

Michael Cola, president of the speciality pharmaceutical business at Shire, said: “We are fortunate to have someone with the breadth of experience of Dr Jonas join our speciality pharmaceutical leadership team.”

He added his strong therapeutic background would complement the company’s franchise in ADHD while his broad experience in a number of biological and pharmaceutical areas would allow him to support the unit’s work and expansion into other therapeutic fields.

Earlier this week, Shire announced the retirement from the board of Robin Buchanan due to other commitments.

Mr Buchanan said he would step down from the board on July 29th 2008 at the end of his term of office.