People In Brief
This article was originally published in The Gray Sheet
Executive Summary
Roche changing of guard: Roche Molecular Diagnostics CEO Daniel O'Day will head the Swiss firm's entire test business at year-end when current diagnostics CEO Juergen Schwiezer retires, Roche said Sept. 8. O'Day's new title will be chief operating officer, rather than CEO, of the Diagnostics Division, but like Schwiezer he will report directly to Roche CEO Severin Schwan. Under the new structure, the head of the diabetes care division, Burkhard Piper, will report to O'Day, rather than to Schwan, as Piper has been doing since 2008 when Schwan took over the company. Schwiezer took the helm of the diagnostics unit last year to replace Schwan, who previously ran the laboratory products business (1"The Gray Sheet" Oct. 8, 2007). Also as part of the changes, Pharma Division head William M. Burns will be replaced by Pascal Soriot, who has led Genentech since Roche acquired the biotech firm earlier this year