P&U Gets Ex-AHP Exec VP As Its New President, CEO

Following the resignation of its chief executive John Zabriskie earlythis year - in what was generally seen as a boardroom battle - Swedish-USA group Pharmacia & Upjohn has now named Fred Hassan as president and chief executive. The appointment follows a lengthy search as well as a couple of profit warnings from P&U (Marketletters passim), and takes effect immediately. Acting chief executive Jan Ekberg will resume his non-executive chairman post at P&U, while Richard Brown, who has been acting chairman since January, reverts to his non-executive director post.

Fred Hassan's Broad Experience Mr Hassan, who will be based at the group's UK headquarters in Windsor, some 25 miles west of London, joins P&U from American Home Products, where he was first president of the Wyeth-Ayerst division and then became responsible for AHP's global pharmaceutical, medical device and nutritional businesses, and its R&D, with the title of executive vice president.

Among his other achievements, Mr Hassan is credited with playing a critical role in AHP's successful integration of American Cyanamid, and was elected to the AHP board of directors in 1995. Prior to joining AHP in 1989, he was with Sandoz Pharmaceuticals Corp in the USA, leaving that company as chief executive of its US pharmaceutical business. Mr Hassan, of Pakistani origin, is a naturalized US citizen, educated in both London and at Harvard University, USA.