NORTH
CHICAGO, Ill., July 10,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) today
announced that Roopal Thakkar, M.D.
who currently serves as senior vice president, chief medical
officer, global therapeutics has been appointed to the position of
executive vice president, research & development and chief
scientific officer. In this position, Dr. Thakkar will lead the
company's global R&D organization of more than 14,000 team
members across all phases of discovery and development, including
therapeutics and aesthetics.
"Dr. Thakkar is a physician by training with a deep commitment
to innovation and patient care," said Rob
Michael, chief executive officer, AbbVie. "He has an
excellent track record in building new capabilities, forging
strategic partnerships and advancing our clinical programs to bring
medicines and solutions to patients as quickly as possible. As
AbbVie's chief scientific officer, Dr. Thakkar will continue to
build momentum across discovery and all stages of development to
fully realize the potential of our diverse pipeline. He has the
right vision, skills and experience to lead our R&D
organization."
"I am excited to assume these new responsibilities for the
R&D organization at AbbVie," said Roopal Thakkar, M.D, executive vice president,
research & development and chief scientific officer,
AbbVie. "Our pipeline of more than 90 drug and device programs
presents a significant opportunity to ensure AbbVie's growth well
into the next decade. I am confident that our outstanding R&D
team will continue to deliver critical innovation and it's my
privilege to lead this organization as we take on the most
challenging health issues for patients."
Thomas J. Hudson, M.D., who
currently serves as AbbVie's senior vice president, chief
scientific officer, global research, will retire from AbbVie. Dr.
Hudson joined AbbVie in 2016 overseeing oncology discovery and
early development before assuming the role of vice president,
discovery research. He was appointed to the role of chief
scientific officer in 2019. Over the past eight years, Dr. Hudson
helped shape AbbVie's approach to early-stage science, built
precision medicine capabilities, guided many scientific
partnerships and developed data strategies to accelerate drug
discovery and development.
About Roopal Thakkar,
M.D.
Dr. Roopal Thakkar serves as
executive vice president, research & development, chief
scientific officer at AbbVie. In this role, he leads the company's
R&D organization of more than 14,000 team members around the
world and is focused on driving pipeline advancement across
therapeutics and aesthetics. Dr. Thakkar is also responsible for
the six major R&D centers of excellence located across
the United States, Germany and Japan.
He joined Abbott/AbbVie in 2003 as part of the Physician
Development Program. Since then, he has held several positions in
clinical development, including group project director, immunology,
as well as vice president, global regulatory affairs where he was
responsible for driving industry-leading regulatory submissions to
health authorities around the world.
In 2019, Dr. Thakkar assumed the role of vice president, global
regulatory affairs and R&D quality assurance and in 2022 he was
appointed to the role of senior vice president, development
and regulatory affairs and chief medical officer.
In 2023, Dr. Thakkar was appointed senior vice president, chief
medical officer, global therapeutics. In this role, he led the
organization through many strategic acquisitions and propelled and
delivered clinical development programs across immunology,
oncology, neuroscience, eye care and specialty.
Prior to joining AbbVie, he completed training in internal
medicine and was a clinical fellow at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, and at
Wake Forest University School of
Medicine. Dr. Thakkar received his bachelor's degree in cellular
and molecular biology from the University of
Michigan and his M.D. from the Wayne
State University School of Medicine.
About AbbVie
AbbVie's mission is to discover and deliver innovative medicines
and solutions that solve serious health issues today and address
the medical challenges of tomorrow. We strive to have a remarkable
impact on people's lives across several key therapeutic areas –
immunology, oncology, neuroscience, and eye care – and products and
services in our Allergan Aesthetics portfolio. For more information
about AbbVie, please visit us at www.abbvie.com. Follow
@abbvie on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X
(formerly Twitter), and YouTube.
Forward-Looking Statements
Some statements in this news release are, or may be
considered, forward-looking statements for purposes of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The words "believe,"
"expect," "anticipate," "project" and similar expressions and uses
of future or conditional verbs, generally identify forward-looking
statements. AbbVie cautions that these forward-looking statements
are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual
results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the
forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include,
but are not limited to, challenges to intellectual property,
competition from other products, difficulties inherent in the
research and development process, adverse litigation or government
action, and changes to laws and regulations applicable to our
industry. Additional information about the economic, competitive,
governmental, technological and other factors that may affect
AbbVie's operations is set forth in Item 1A, "Risk Factors," of
AbbVie's 2023 Annual Report on Form 10-K, which has been filed with
the Securities and Exchange Commission, as updated by its
subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. AbbVie undertakes no
obligation, and specifically declines, to release publicly any
revisions to forward-looking statements as a result of subsequent
events or developments, except as required by law.
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SOURCE AbbVie