Lundbeck appoints vp of business development

Aims to build alliances with pharmaceutical firms

H Lundbeck (Lundbeck) has promoted Søren Kjeld Kristensen to vp of business development and strategic alliances to optimise the Danish firm’s partnerships with other pharmaceutical companies.

Partnerships have long been an integral part of Lundbeck’s strategy, and the firm’s current alliances include a collaboration with US-based Forest Laboratories for the marketing of the antidepressant Lexapro in the US; a partnership with Japanese Takeda for development of new antidepressants Lu AA21004 and Lu AA24530; and cooperation with Japanese Mochida for the registration and marketing of Lexapro in Japan.

‘It is important to ensure maximum benefit from our alliances, both for Lundbeck and for our partners. This is now Søren's task, as he must optimise existing alliances and identify and evaluate new ones,’ said Ole Vahlgren, senior vp with responsibility for Lundbeck's business development.

Kristensen joined Lundbeck’s commercial department in 2003. Among other activities, he has played an important role in the development of Lundbeck’s Latin American and Canadian businesses.

He was appointed director of Lundbeck’s business development department in 2007. Here he was involved in ongoing efforts to identify and analyse potential alliance partners, in-licensing and acquisition candidates. He has been one of the driving forces behind Lundbeck’s collaboration with Takeda and the agreement with Mochida, and its partner, Mitsubishi, for the upcoming launch of Lexapro in Japan. He has also played a key role in Lundbeck’s collaboration with Merck to in-license and launch Sycrest.

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