Biogen Idec

Francesco Granata has been named executive vice president of Global Commercial Operations, Biogen Idec. Also, Tony Kingsley has been appointed senior vice president of U.S. Commercial Operations, and Dr. Frederick Munschauer has been named vice president of U.S. Medical Affairs.

“These appointments are an important step for Biogen Idec’s commercial and medical operations and will be instrumental to our efforts to drive strong product revenue growth,” said Robert A. Hamm, chief operating officer of Biogen Idec. “As we continue to take meaningful steps to enhance our Avonex business and drive additional Tysabri growth, Francesco and Tony’s deep industry experience in developing and executing successful commercial strategies and Rick’s distinguished medical leadership in neurology further augment our ability to focus on these core products. We welcome them to the company and look forward to their contributions.”

Dr. Granata has more than 30 years of experience developing and executing global commercial business strategies within pharma/biopharma organizations. Most recently, he served as a group vice president at Schering-Plough Corp., where he oversaw commercial regions representing more than $5 billion in sales. Prior to that, he held executive commercial leadership positions at Pharmacia Corp. and Pfizer. In his new position, he will be responsible for commercial operations worldwide, Global Commercial Strategy and Global Medical Affairs.

Mr. Kingsley most recently served as senior vice president and general manager, GYN Surgical Products at Hologic, Inc., where he was responsible for sales, marketing, R&D, and operations. Prior to that, he was division president, Diagnostic Products at Cytyc Corp. In his new role at Biogen, Mr. Kingsley will be responsible for all U.S. commercial functions, including marketing and sales for neurology, oncology and rheumatology, market access, patient services, training, and sales operations.

Dr. Munschauer joins the company from SUNY at Buffalo School of Medicine, where he most recently served as the Irvin & Rosemary Smith Professor in the Department of Neurology and chair of the Department of Neurology. Dr. Munschauer was instrumental in the development of Avonex; conducting trials from the original Phase I dose-finding studies through Phase III and IV clinical development. In addition to his role within Biogen’s Commercial unit as head of U.S. Medical Affairs, he will also work closely with Neurology R&D.