Rajiv De Silva has been appointed chief operating officer of Specialty Pharmaceuticals, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, effective January 5, 2009. Mr. De Silva will be responsible for overseeing the U.S., Canadian and Australian specialty pharmaceuticals operations.

“We are very pleased to have Rajiv join the Valeant team,” said J. Michael Pearson, chairman and chief executive officer of Valeant. “His experience in the global pharmaceutical industry and his track record on the operations side should serve as important assets to the Valeant team as we continue to focus our business on efficiency and profitability.”

Prior to joining the company, Mr. De Silva held various leadership positions with Novartis AG. Most recently, he served as president, Novartis Vaccines USA and head, Vaccines of the Americas. Mr. De Silva held these positions since 2007 and also played a key leadership role at Novartis’ Vaccines & Diagnostics Division and served as a member of the executive committee. From 2005 to 2007, he served as president, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Canada. He joined Novartis in 2003 as global head, strategic planning for Novartis Pharma AG, in Basel, Switzerland.