Dr. Kirk Shepard appointed Senior Vice President, Global Medical Affairs of the Oncology Business Group at Eisai Inc.

WOODCLIFF LAKE, N.J., March 17, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Eisai Inc., the U.S. pharmaceutical subsidiary of Eisai Co., Ltd., today announced the immediate appointment of Kirk Shepard, MD, as Senior Vice President, Global Medical Affairs of the Oncology Business Group. Dr. Shepard will be responsible for creating and overseeing Eisai's global oncology medical strategies for the Commercial and Market Access businesses.

Dr. Shepard, who has over 30 years of experience in the oncology field, will lead the company's Global Oncology Medical Affairs function. He will be responsible for the overall strategic and operational leadership of the Oncology Business Group's medical affairs activities, including but not limited to the global strategic life cycle management of Eisai's existing oncology portfolio of commercialized products, real world evidence trials, investigator initiated trials, and the company's continued medical education and medical information programs. He will serve as the medical leader and expert resource to the Medical Affairs teams globally and other cross-functional stakeholders ensuring effective portfolio and resource optimization.

"Based on his extensive global experience in medical strategy and supportive tactics for the portfolio of commercialized brands, life cycle management and assistance in the launch of products, Dr. Shepard will be a tremendous asset for Eisai," said Terushige Iike, President of Eisai's Oncology Business Group. "We are confident that he will play a key role in the growth of Eisai's oncology business worldwide."

Dr. Shepard joins Eisai from Shire Pharmaceuticals, where he served as Senior Vice President & Head, Global Medical Affairs following the company's acquisition of Baxalta US, Inc. (formerly Bioscience Baxter Healthcare Corporation) in June 2016. During his four-plus year tenure with Shire and Baxalta, Dr. Shepard was in charge of leading the life cycle management of the company's oncology, neurology, hemophilia, hematology and immunology products, as well as biosimilars. Key activities included overseeing the publication planning process for scientific review and approval of abstracts and manuscripts prior to submission; developing strategic objectives with the regional directors; and the conducting and reporting of supplemental data analyses from company-sponsored studies to support treatment guidelines, clinical decision making, and label enhancements. Prior to Baxalta, Dr. Shepard served as Senior Vice President, Global Medical Affairs at Takeda Pharmaceuticals International for over four years. Dr. Shepard began his pharmaceutical career with Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals (formerly Roxane Labs, Inc.), where he spent 17 years in roles at the vice president and senior vice president level.

Dr. Shepard received his Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Cincinnati Medical School, which included an internal medicine residency at Case Western Reserve University and an oncology and hematology fellowship at the University of Chicago Hospitals and Clinics. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University.

Over the course of his career, Dr. Shepard has had more than 50 medical publications in journals and books. He currently serves as President of the Medical Affairs Professional Society. In 2015, he was selected as one of the 100 Most Inspiring People in the Pharmaceutical Industry by PharmaVOICE.

Eisai Inc.  
At Eisai Inc., human health care (hhc) is our goal. We give our first thought to patients and their families, and helping to increase the benefits health care provides. As the U.S. pharmaceutical subsidiary of Tokyo-based Eisai Co., Ltd., we have a passionate commitment to patient care that is the driving force behind our efforts to discover and develop innovative therapies to help address unmet medical needs.

Eisai is a fully integrated pharmaceutical business that operates in two global business groups: oncology and neurology (dementia-related diseases and neurodegenerative diseases). Each group functions as an end-to-end global business with discovery, development, and marketing capabilities. Our U.S. headquarters, commercial and clinical development organizations are located in New Jersey; our discovery labs are in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania; and our global demand chain organization resides in Maryland and North Carolina. To learn more about Eisai Inc., please visit us at www.eisai.com/US.

Eisai Co. Ltd. 
Eisai Co., Ltd. is a leading global research and development-based pharmaceutical company headquartered in Japan. We define our corporate mission as "giving first thought to patients and their families and to increasing the benefits health care provides," which we call our human health care (hhc) philosophy. With over 10,000 employees working across our global network of R&D facilities, manufacturing sites and marketing subsidiaries, we strive to realize our hhc philosophy by delivering innovative products in various therapeutic areas with high unmet medical needs, including oncology and neurology. For more information about Eisai Co., Ltd., please visit www.eisai.com.

SOURCE Eisai Inc.