Roche appoints Karen Lackey head of medicinal chemistry

Karen Lackey has been appointed vice-president and head of medicinal chemistry by Roche.

She will be based at the company’s Nutley, New Jersey facility and oversee small molecule drug discovery in oncology, virology and inflammation.

Karen will also head up the Nutley Discovery chemistry management team and be a member of the global chemistry leadership team.

Roche’s global head of chemistry Hans-Joachim Boehm said: “Karen’s appointment reinforces Roche’s continuing commitment to innovation and to being at the forefront of medical discovery.

“Her extensive experience and knowledge of the industry will serve Roche well as we address the challenge of bringing new medicines to patients with unmet medical needs.”

Karen was most recently VP of discovery medicine chemistry at GlaxoSmithKline, overseeing more than 150 GSK chemists in both the UK and US as well as extensive external resources in China, India, Europe, and the US.

During her 22-year career at GSK, Karen held a variety of positions and played an active role in the discovery of the dual erbB2/EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor Tykerb (lapatinib).

Prior to GSK Karen held positions at Pfizer, where she was involved in research on semi-synthetic ionophores, carbohydrates, peptides and heterocyclic chemistry, and the Richardson Polymer Corporation, where she conducted research in the areas of plastics and resins.