Novartis has announced the appointment of John Tsai, M.D. as Head of Global Drug Development (GDD) and Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Tsai will join Novartis on May 1, 2018, and will be based in Basel, Switzerland. He will report to Vas Narasimhan, M.D., CEO of Novartis and will become a member of the Executive Committee of Novartis (ECN).

Dr. Tsai succeeds Dr. Narasimhan who became CEO of Novartis on February 1, 2018. Dr. Rob Kowalski, who led GDD as interim since February 1, 2018, will resume his responsibilities as Head of Global Regulatory Affairs for GDD.

Dr. Tsai has been Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President of Global Medical at Amgen Inc., since May 2017 and oversees all clinical and medical functions across multiple sites worldwide.

At Novartis, he will be responsible for advancing the company's industry-leading pipeline of innovative medicines and biosimilars. Dr. Tsai will also lead the GDD organization's ongoing transformation embracing the power of advanced data sciences and digital technologies to create a more agile model for drug development.

Prior to joining Amgen, Dr. Tsai spent eleven years with Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), where he served as Global Head of Clinical Development for marketed products and global clinical operations.