Appointments: Novartis And GSK Announce New R&D Heads, LNC Therapeutics Gets A New CEO, Plus Announcements From Zelluna and BC Platforms

Novartis AG has appointed John Tsai head of global drug development (GDD) and chief medical officer. Tsai will join Novartis on May 1, and will be based in Basel, Switzerland. He will report to CEO Vas Narasimhan, and will become a member of the executive committee of Novartis. He succeeds Narasimhan who became CEO of Novartis on February 1. Rob Kowalski, who led GDD ad interim since February 1, 2018, will resume his responsibilities as head of global regulatory affairs for GDD. Tsai has been chief medical officer and senior vice president of global medical at Amgen Inc., since May 2017 and oversees all clinical and medical functions across multiple sites worldwide. Before joining Amgen, Tsai spent 11 years with Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., where was global head of clinical development for marketed products and global clinical operations. At Novartis, Tsai will also lead the GDD organization's efforts in harnessing data sciences and digital technologies in drug development.

Kevin Sin has been appointed senior vice president and head of worldwide business development for pharmaceuticals research & development at GlaxoSmithKline PLC. Sin will join GSK in July from...