Shire has announced the appointment of Dr Andreas Busch as its new executive vice-president, head of research and development, and chief scientific officer.

Dr Busch will join the company in January 2018, at which point he will also become a member of Shire's executive committee. He currently serves as head of drug discovery and a member of the executive committee for the pharmaceuticals division of Bayer.

“Shire has named Dr Andreas Busch as its new head of research and development and chief scientific officer, with Dr Howard Mayer becoming chief medical officer.“

During his 13 years at Bayer, he has held roles of increasing responsibility within the company, and was responsible for the Schering drug discovery integration, for overseeing overall research and development strategy and for improving Bayer's research productivity.

Dr Flemming Ornskov, chief executive officer of Shire, said: "We look forward to Andy enabling us to further accelerate our ability to discover novel treatments for our innovative rare disease pipeline."

Meanwhile, Dr Howard Mayer - who has been serving as Shire's head of research and development on an interim basis - has been appointed as chief medical officer, also effective from January.

He has been with Shire since 2012 and previously served as its senior vice-president and head of global clinical development.

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