Toronto, ON, Canada - December 1, 2010, Toronto, ON, Canada - Patheon, a global provider of drug development and manufacturing services, announced that chief executive officer and president Wesley P. Wheeler has left the company.
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Mr. Wheeler joined Patheon as Chief Executive Officer in December 2007. Mr. Wheeler also served on the Board of Patheon from December 2007 to April 29, 2009 and re-joined the Board on December 4, 2009.
Mr. Wheeler’s 29-year career includes multinational experience in pharmaceutical manufacturing, sales and marketing, R&D and engineering with three global pharmaceutical companies. He joined Patheon from Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, a California-based global specialty pharmaceutical company, where he served most recently as President, North America, R&D and Global Manufacturing.
Prior to joining Valeant in 2003, Mr. Wheeler served as President and Chief Executive Officer of DSM Pharmaceuticals Inc., a contract pharmaceutical manufacturer, where he led the organization through a business turnaround, significantly increasing new business, compliance and profitability.
Prior to DSM, Mr. Wheeler was Senior Vice-President of Logistics and Strategy for GlaxoSmithKline plc, where he managed the manufacturing rationalization of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham, which included a supply network of over 100 plants in 41 countries.
Previous to his manufacturing role, Mr. Wheeler was Vice President of Marketing for Glaxo Wellcome, where he was responsible for antibiotic, antiviral, gastrointestinal and metabolic products, and was instrumental in developing the marketing services infrastructure. Mr. Wheeler joined Glaxo in 1989 after a 12-year career at Exxon Research & Engineering Co.
Mr. Wheeler holds a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and a master of business administration degree from California Lutheran University.
The company also announced the appointment of Peter Bigelow, President of Patheon's North American operations, as interim Chief Executive Officer.
Mr. Bigelow has nearly 30 years of technical operating and engineering experience to Patheon. Mr. Bigelow most recently served as Senior Vice President at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, where he had responsibility for Wyeth’s global consumer healthcare product manufacturing and oversight of Wyeth’s operations in Latin America.
Mr. Bigelow joined Wyeth in 1995 and in his 14 years had several executive posts spanning the breadth of pharmaceutical manufacturing and technical operations. Prior to joining Wyeth, he spent 13 years with SmithKline Beecham (now GlaxoSmithKline) in a variety of engineering and operations roles. ■