New bosses = new ideas?
This article was originally published in Scrip
Executive Summary
As the pharmaceutical industry braces itself for one of toughest periods in its history it has clearly decided that it is best to do so with fresh ideas from new faces. In the past week we have seen the world's two largest pharma companies announce changes in the top job, as Pfizer replaced Jeff Kindler with Ian Read and Merck promoted Kenneth Frazier to replace Richard Clark as CEO. In both cases, the companies have opted for insiders – in Read's case he has worked for the company for 32 years while Frazier has been at Merck since 1992 – rather than look outside their corporations.