Basilea appoints David Veitch as chief commercial officer

Switzerland-based Basilea Pharmaceutica (SIX: BSLN) has appointed David Veitch as its chief commercial officer. He will join the company on 1 September, and will be responsible for leading Basilea's commercial operations, including sales, marketing, pricing and market access.

Mr Veitch has more than 25 years of international commercial experience in the pharma industry, and has led cross-sfunctional organizations at national- and pan-European level. Most recently he was president of European operations at Savient Pharmaceuticals. Prior to this, he held various positions at Bristol-Myers Squibb, where his last position held was senior vice president of Europe, the Middle East and Asia, brand commercialization. He started his pharma career at SmithKline Beecham.

Ronald Scott, chief executive officer of Basilea, said: "We are very pleased to have David Veitch join our team as chief commercial officer. His extensive experience and in-depth knowledge of European pharmaceutical markets will be instrumental in the commercialization of our broad-spectrum antibiotic Zevftera/Mabelio. We anticipate launching Zevtera in Germany in the second half of this year, followed by launches in additional key European markets in 2015. In the event our antifungal isavuconazole is approved next year, Basilea could have two hospital anti-infectives with European market authorization by the end of 2015. This would afford the company significant commercial synergy and put Basilea in a strong position to optimize the value of these two drugs. We look forward to working with David to bring our new medications to the market."