HOECHST-ROUSSEL PHARMACEUTICAL PRESIDENT IS HERDKLOTZ

HOECHST-ROUSSEL PHARMACEUTICAL PRESIDENT IS HERDKLOTZ, succeeding Victor Bauer, PhD, on Dec. 1. John (Jack) Herdklotz, 49, was most recently on assignment for a year in Frankfurt, Germany, with Hoechst AG's vasotherapeutics strategic business unit beginning in the autumn of 1991. Prior to that stay at corporate headquarters, Herdklotz served as exec VP, research and operations of Hoechst-Roussel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Somerville, N.J.) since 1990 ("The Pink Sheet" May 21, 1990, In Brief). Herdklotz joined Hoechst Celanese in 1970 as a research chemist. He subsequently worked in various marketing and R&D positions within the Hoechst Celanese textile fibers and technical fibers businesses until being appointed exec VP-research and operations at HRPI. Herdklotz received a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Rockford College and a doctorate in physical chemistry from Rice University. Bauer, an avid viola player, is retiring at age 57 after 21 years with HRPI. Arriving at HRPI in 1971 as director of clinical research, Bauer was moved to VP-operations in 1974. In 1980, he was named exec VP and CEO, a post he held until 1989 when he was named president of the company. Bauer has served on the board of the National Pharmaceutical Council. Hoechst has had to shed its traditional public reticence several times in recent years. The firm has been involved in a legal battle with Immunex over marketing of granulocytemacrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF). Under a July agreement, Immunex was granted exclusive marketing rights in the U.S. to GM- CSF under the Leukine name ("The Pink Sheet" July 27, p. 6). In the highly-charged Alzheimer's Disease development area, the company has a compound following behind Warner-Lambert's Cognex. FDA's Peripheral & Central Nervous System Drugs Advisory Committee recently handed HRPI's Mentane (velnacrine) a not-approvable recommendation. The advisory committee also denied a Treatment IND for the acetylcholinesterase inhibitor ("The Pink Sheet" Nov. 9, p. 5). In addition to Bauer, another Hoechst topsider retired Dec. 1: Hubert Huckel, MD, president of the Life Sciences Group and a member of the board of directors of Hoechst Celanese, the parent of HRPI. Apart from Hoechst-Roussel, Huckel, 61, also oversaw the North American Animal Health and North American Crop Protection business units. A successor to Huckel has not yet been named. A Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association board member, Huckel began his career at Hoechst in 1964 in the medical department of Hoechst AG in Frankfurt. In 1966, Huckel transferred to Hoechst's U.S. affiliate, then known as Hoechst Pharmaceuticals, as medical director. He later became chairman of HRPI, and added the post of Hoechst Celanese Life Sciences Group president in 1989.