Musical chairs for Dr Alexandre Lebeaut at Ipsen

French drugmaker Ipsen (Euronext: IPSEY) on Friday announced the appointment of Dr Alexandre Lebeaut as executive vice-president, R&D, and chief scientific officer, effective immediately.

Dr Lebeaut will report directly to David Meek, chief executive of Ipsen, and serve on the executive leadership team. Dr Lebeaut joined Ipsen in 2013 as senior VP, chief development officer, global drug development and was appointed Interim Head of R&D in December 2016.

Mr Meek commented: “It is my great pleasure to appoint Dr Lebeaut to lead Ipsen’s R&D organization. He brings outstanding medical and leadership experience from global pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Dr Lebeaut has consistently demonstrated an unwavering commitment to innovation, collaboration and successful execution of drug development strategies. During his four years at Ipsen, Dr Lebeaut has been instrumental in successfully leading our global development programs. He played a key role in the approval of Somatuline [lanreotide] for the treatment of neuroendocrine tumors, our partnership with Exelixis for Cabometyx [cabozantinib] and the acquisition of Onivyde [irinotecan]. He will continue to lead the transformation of Ipsen’s R&D strategy to further build a differentiated and sustainable portfolio to continue to address unmet medical needs in our key areas of expertise.”