Pharmacia R&D President Goran Ando, MD, will move to the other side of a partnership between Pharmacia and Celltech for the Phase III rheumatoid arthritis agent CDP-870 as Celltech CEO.

Pfizer inherits the CDP-870 co-promotion deal from Pharmacia, which entered the agreement with Celltech in March 2001. Pharmacia has invested $60 mil. out of a potential $280 mil. in upfront and milestone payments (¹ Also see "Pharmacia/Celltech Anti-TNF Antibody Deal Includes $50 Mil. Up Front" - Pink Sheet, 12 March, 2001., p. 24).

CDP-870 will give Pfizer a late-stage candidate to enter the TNF inhibitor market, which includes Amgen's Enbrel , Centocor's Remicade , and Abbott's Humira . CDP-870 would complement Pfizer's COX-2 inhibitor line of Celebrex and Bextra .

Ando announced his intention to join Celltech following the completion of Pharmacia's merger with Pfizer April 16 (see ² Also see "Pfizer/Pharmacia Clears FTC: Viagra Patent Strategy, HRT Safety Are Factors" - Pink Sheet, 21 April, 2003.).

Ando, 54, brings to Celltech 25 years of experience with five major pharmaceutical companies. Ando joined Pharmacia from Glaxo after the Glaxo Wellcome merger in 1995. In the early years of his career, Ando worked at Pfizer, Astra and Bristol-Myers in medical affairs and research positions.

Before Pfizer, Ando survived two mergers at Pharmacia: the combination of Pharmacia and Upjohn in 1995 and the P&U/Searle deal in 2000.

Ando was named Pharmacia deputy CEO in 1995, and came out of the P&U merger as exec VP-worldwide science & technology. In 1997, he was named R&D president, reporting to former Searle R&D head Phillip Needleman (Pharmacia's chief scientific officer).

Ando's duties as head of R&D included several operational functions. He oversaw manufacturing and global supply, information technology, mergers and acquisitions, and licensing. He also headed up Pharmacia's efforts to expand access to drugs in Third World countries.

Former Celltech CEO Peter Fellner, MD, is moving up to succeed John Jackson as chairman of the company. Fellner has served as CEO since 1990; the company announced in May 2002 that it was recruiting a new chief executive.

Celltech's goal was to name a successor to Fellner before the end of 2002. However, the delay in the closing of the Pfizer/Pharmacia deal (originally planned for December) meant a delay in Celltech's succession plan as well.

Schering-Plough appears to be in a similar position with its CEO search. Richard Kogan is stepping down at the company's annual meeting April 22; the search for a successor began in November when he was replaced as chairman by outside director Richard Osborne (³ [A#00640460012], p. 15).

Pharmacia CEO Fred Hassan quickly emerged as the front-runner for the Schering post, but the delay in the closing of the Pfizer deal leaves little time to finalize a deal before Kogan's retirement date.

Pharmacia's top pharma execs, Global Prescription Business co-Presidents Carrie Cox and Timothy Rothwell, are also likely to be moving on with the closing of the merger.

At Celltech, Ando will oversee a company that is well beyond the start-up stage - but far toward the other end of the spectrum in terms of scale in the pharma industry compared to Pfizer.

In 2002, Celltech had $500 mil. in annual sales, roughly the equivalent of Pharmacia's Camptosar (and one-fifth Pfizer's $2.5 bil. target for annual cost-savings in the Pharmacia deal).

Although Celltech is relatively small compared to Pfizer/Pharmacia, CDP-870 has the potential to transform the company quickly if it makes an impact in the TNF market.

Celltech's current commercial focus in the U.S. is building the Methadate CD attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder franchise. Once-daily methylphenidate was launched in 2001. Celltech is also relaunching the ulcerative colitis agent Dipentum (olsalazine), licensed from Pharmacia in 2002.

In addition to the CDP-870 deal, Celltech has partnerships with Merck (for a PDE4 inhibitor for asthma) and Bristol-Myers Squibb (for the oncologic agent BMS-275291), both of which are in Phase II. Celltech is also in the process of acquiring Oxford GlycoSciences.

Pharmacia R&amp;D Head Ando Leaves For Celltech; Will Still Work With Pfizer

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Pharmacia R&D Head Ando Leaves For Celltech; Will Still Work With Pfizer