Arthur J. Higgins (48), currently chairman and CEO of the American biopharmaceutical company Enzon, has been appointed new chairman of the Bayer HealthCare Executive Committee. Higgins, British, takes over from Rolf Classon (58) who is retiring, as previously planned, on June 30, 2004 after 13 years of service with Bayer. Werner Wenning, chairman of Bayer's Board of Management, commented: "Arthur Higgins has more than 20 years of international experience in pharmaceuticals, diagnostics and consumer products, and we are confident that he will provide a major impetus to our healthcare business."
Arthur Higgins was born on March 6, 1956 in Airdrie, Scotland. He holds a Bachelors of Science degree in biochemistry from Strathclyde University in Scotland, and started his career in the UK with the pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers. He subsequently worked for Sandoz and Fisons before moving to Abbott Laboratories in the USA in 1987, where he held positions of increasing responsibility in the international and domestic divisions, including a two-year posting in Germany. He served as president of Abbott´s Pharmaceutical Products Division in Chicago from 1998 to 2001. In that capacity he had full profit and loss responsibilities for Abbott´s U. S. pharmaceutical business, as well as global responsibility for pharmaceutical research and development.
Since 2001 he has been chairman and CEO of Enzon Pharmaceuticals headquartered in Bridgewater, New Jersey. He is currently also serving as chairman of the Biotech Council of New Jersey and on the board of the USA's National Pharmaceutical Council.
"It is a great honor to be joining a company with such a long and proud heritage in the health care industry", said Arthur J. Higgins. "I am very optimistic about the future of Bayer HealthCare."
The future head of Bayer HealthCare, who will be joining the company on May 10, 2004, is married with three children.
Rolf Classon has been chairman of the Bayer HealthCare Executive Committee since October 28, 2002. Born in Sweden on August 20, 1945 he holds a Chemical Engineering Certificate from Gothenburg Technical School of Engineering and a Business Degree from Gothenburg University. Classon held various managerial posts at Pharmacia AB before joining Bayer's Diagnostics Business Group in 1991 as executive vice president responsible for global sales and marketing.