Roche has announced that Daniel O'Day, CEO Roche Pharmaceuticals and member of the Corporate Executive Committee, will be stepping down from his role as of 31 December 2018. Until the end of February 2019 and prior to assuming new responsibilities outside of Roche, he will provide his support to ensure a smooth transition of activities.

William (Bill) Anderson, currently CEO of Genentech, will be appointed CEO Roche Pharmaceuticals effective 1 January 2019. He will be based in Basel, report to Severin Schwan, Roche Group CEO and become a member of the Corporate Executive Committee.

Roche's CEO Severin Schwan said: "Dan has had an outstanding 31-year career at Roche and has played a key role in bringing a large number of new, innovative medicines to patients. Roche today has one of the strongest pipelines of medicines in the industry and is well positioned to shape digitalisation in healthcare. We are very grateful for all of Dan's contributions." Schwan added: "I am very pleased that with Bill Anderson we are appointing a new CEO of our Pharmaceuticals Division with an impressive track record. Bill brings both in-depth knowledge of our industry and extensive global leadership experience."

Daniel O'Day began his career with Roche Pharmaceuticals in 1987 and held various roles in the United States before moving in 1998 to Basel, Switzerland in Global Marketing and then Lifecycle Management. In 2001, he was appointed Head of Corporate Planning for Roche Pharmaceuticals in Japan and subsequently became General Manager Pharma Denmark. He returned to the United States to head up Roche Molecular Diagnostics in 2006 before being appointed to lead the Diagnostics Division in 2010. He was appointed to lead the Pharmaceuticals Division in 2012.

Bill Anderson joined Roche in 2006 leading the Immunology Business Unit in Genentech and then took responsibility for Oncology Sales and Marketing. In 2013, he was appointed Head of Global Product Strategy based in Basel before assuming his current role as CEO of Genentech in 2017. Bill Anderson holds Master of Science degrees in Management and Chemical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.