OREANDA-NEWS. At its December meeting, the Board of Directors (BoD) of Roche Holding recommended first proposals for approval by the AGM, scheduled for 3 March 2015.

All current members of the BoD will stand for re-election:

NameBoard member since
Dr. Christoph Franz (as Chairman)2011
Andr? Hoffmann1996
Professor Dr. Pius Baschera2007
Professor Sir John Irving Bell2001
Paul Bulcke2011
Dame DeAnne Julius2002
Dr. Andreas Oeri1996
Dr. Severin Schwan2013
Peter R. Voser2011
Professor Dr. Beatrice Weder di Mauro2006

The following will be nominated for election as new members of the Board of Directors:

  • Bernard Poussot
  • Professor Richard P. Lifton, Ph.D.

Christoph Franz, Chairman of Roche said: „I am delighted that we are able to propose two outstanding individuals to be elected as new members of the Board who will bring significant experience from their careers in the pharmaceutical industry and in biomedical research, respectively.”

Change in the enlarged Corporate Executive Committee

Richard Scheller (61), Ph.D., Head of Genentech Research and Early Development (gRED) and member of the enlarged Corporate Executive Committee has decided to retire as of 31 December 2014. As of 1 January 2015 Michael D. Varney (56), Ph.D., currently Head of Small Molecule Drug Discovery, will become Head of gRED and member of the enlarged Corporate Executive Committee of Roche.

Severin Schwan, CEO of Roche, commented about the change: „I thank Richard Scheller for his outstanding contributions to the Roche Group. Genentech developed a number of important medicines under his leadership. Richard also contributed significantly to the successful integration of Genentech into the Roche Group. It is my pleasure that with Mike Varney we could name a successor from within the gRED organization. Mike brings a proven track record in the discovery and development of new medicines as well as considerable experience in leading research organizations.”

About Roche

Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is a leader in research-focused healthcare with combined strengths in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. Roche is the world’s largest biotech company, with truly differentiated medicines in oncology, immunology, infectious diseases, ophthalmology and neuroscience. Roche is also the world leader in in vitro diagnostics and tissue-based cancer diagnostics, and a frontrunner in diabetes management. Roche’s personalised healthcare strategy aims at providing medicines and diagnostics that enable tangible improvements in the health, quality of life and survival of patients. Founded in 1896, Roche has been making important contributions to global health for more than a century. Twenty-four medicines developed by Roche are included in the World Health Organisation Model Lists of Essential Medicines, among them life-saving antibiotics, antimalarials and chemotherapy.

In 2013 the Roche Group employed over 85,000 people worldwide, invested 8.7 billion Swiss francs in R&D and posted sales of 46.8 billion Swiss francs. Genentech, in the United States, is a wholly owned member of the Roche Group. Roche is the majority shareholder in Chugai Pharmaceutical, Japan. For more information, please visit www.roche.com.