Cephalon’s pharma chief to step down

Cephalon’s executive vice president of worldwide pharmaceutical operations Robert Roche is leaving the company at the beginning of February to pursue other interests.

The US biopharmaceutical company said in a statement that an announcement about plans for its leadership and the commercial organisation would come “in the near future”, adding that the heads of its European, international pharma and US pharma operations would remain in post.

During his time at the company Roche established and grew Cephalon’s sales and marketing organisation into a global business with annual revenues in excess of $2 billion.

Chairman and chief executive Frank Baldino Jr. said "Bob Roche made a tremendous contribution to the worldwide commercial success of Cephalon. On behalf of the board of directors and executive team, I want to express my appreciation for his 15 years of excellent service and leadership in establishing Cephalon as one of the leading biopharmaceutical companies in the world."

Before joining Cephalon, Roche served as director and vice president of worldwide strategic product development, for SmithKline Beecham's central nervous system and gastrointestinal products business.

He also was managing director of SmithKline's pharmaceutical operations in the Philippines and held senior marketing positions in Canada and Spain and had product planning responsibilities for SmithKline in Latin America.