Early this month, Pheroze Khan was appointed as Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) India’s new Managing Director. He succeeded Alok Sonig, who now moves to the BMS office in Princeton, as Vice-President, Business Model Innovation.
BMS, the $20-billion multinational drug maker, has a strong presence in India through its R&D initiatives. The company, which spent $3.6 billion in 2010 for R&D business, is strengthening its Indian operations, by a change of guard at BMS India.
Khan who returned to India after 22 years as business head in diverse markets, was Managing Director, BMS-Greece, where he led the organisation through unprecedented market conditions.
BMS has plans to use Khan's wide marketing experience to expand India operations, where marketing and distributions play a key role in each pharmaceutical company's success.
Prior to Bristol Myers Squibb, Khan was with Hoechst AG (now part of Sanofi-Aventis) for over 10 years covering the sales and marketing aspects in India and Germany. According to a note from BMS, Khan would be focusing on bringing vital medicines to the market.
Khan joined Bristol-Myers Squibb as a product manager in Australia in 1995. He honed his skills as Director Marketing for Plavix, the $7-billion blood thinning drug, in 2001. Before his Greece stint, he worked as marketing director in Mexico and senior director-Commercial Operations, for Latin America and Canada.
BMS, which sees India as a cheaper R&D base, had set up BMS Biocon Research Centre (BBRC) in collaboration with Biocon in 2007. It also expands its relationship with Accenture, in India.
Growing BMS’s Indian operations will be challenging for Khan, considering rival Abbott Labs’ rise to the top slot in the Indian pharma space last year.