Mahmoud Ghazzi, M.D., Ph.D. has been appointed executive vice president of drug development in the Americas for Daiichi Sankyo Pharma Development (DSPD).

Headquartered in Edison, NJ, DSPD is responsible for the regional delivery of global clinical trials throughout North, South and Central America. Dr. Ghazzi will work closely with the global development regional heads in Asia, Japan and Europe to ensure delivery of clinical development programs. He will be responsible for overseeing critical regional functions such as clinical development, regulatory affairs, translational medicine and clinical pharmacology and clinical safety and pharmacovigilance, among others. He also will serve as co-chair for the Daiichi Sankyo Global Clinical Committee, which aims to ensure that programs meet the highest standards of clinical excellence.
 
“Our organization is dedicated to creating innovative new medicines, as well as new methods of drug discovery and delivery, that can broaden our pipeline of drugs to help patients with unmet medical needs,” said Glenn Gormley, M.D., Ph.D., chief science officer and president of DSPD. “Dr. Ghazzi will keep us focused on those goals and will ensure we deliver high quality, innovative products to patients as quickly as we can.”

Previously, Dr. Ghazzi served in roles of increasing responsibility at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Pfizer, where he developed and managed clinical trials for cardiovascular, metabolism, obesity and diabetes drugs.