Roger M. Perlmutter (Photo: Business Wire)

Merck (NYSE: MRK), known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, today announced the appointment of Roger M. Perlmutter, M.D., Ph.D., as executive vice president and president of Merck Research Laboratories (MRL), effective April 15. Dr. Perlmutter will succeed Peter S. Kim, Ph.D., who has served in the role since 2003. To ensure a seamless transition, Dr. Perlmutter and Dr. Kim will work closely together for an initial period, after which Dr. Kim will remain with the company as an advisor until his retirement in August.

Roger M. Perlmutter (Photo: Business Wire)

“Roger is a world-class physician-scientist with a proven track record of leading large research organizations and delivering a broad and diverse pipeline of medicines,” said Kenneth C. Frazier, chairman and chief executive officer, Merck. “With his deep knowledge of the ongoing changes in the industry’s external environment and their implications for how we use R&D resources, Roger is ideally suited to lead Merck’s global research and development. I am confident that under Roger’s leadership, Merck will continue to build upon our legacy of translating cutting edge science into medically important products that make a difference for patients.”

Dr. Perlmutter was executive vice president and head of R&D at Amgen Inc. from January 2001 to February 2012. During his tenure, Dr. Perlmutter oversaw the development and subsequent approval of a number of novel biologic and small molecule medicines in the areas of cancer, endocrinology, hematology, inflammation and osteoporosis. Prior to joining Amgen, he was executive vice president of worldwide basic research and preclinical development at Merck. He joined Merck as a senior vice president in February 1997.

Before assuming leadership roles in industry, Dr. Perlmutter was a professor in the Departments of Immunology, Biochemistry and Medicine at the University of Washington, where he also served as chairman of the Department of Immunology and was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Perlmutter graduated from Reed College in 1973 and received his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Washington University in St. Louis in 1979.

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