Healthcare >> CEO Interviews >> September 3, 2004
MATTHEW EMMENS joined Shire Pharmaceuticals Group plc as Chief Executive
and member of the Board in March 2003. Mr. Emmens began his career in
international pharmaceuticals in 1974 when he joined Merck & Co. He held
a wide range of sales, marketing and training positions with Merck & Co
before moving in 1993 to help establish Astra Merck, the joint venture
with Astra Pharmaceuticals. He later became its President and Chief
Executive. Astra Merck Inc. became an independent, top 20 US
pharmaceutical company with annualized sales in excess of $4 billion and
4000 employees. In 1999 he joined Merck KGaA and established EMD
Pharmaceuticals, the company's US prescription pharmaceutical business.
He was most recently based in Darmstadt, Germany as President of Merck's
global prescription pharmaceuticals business, which in the year 2002
achieved sales of US $2 billion. A graduate of Fairleigh Dickenson
University in Rutherford, New Jersey, US, Mr. Emmens earned a Bachelor
of Science degree in Business Administration. Profile
Mr. Emmens: In short, Shire is a specialty pharmaceutical company
currently focused on serving the specialist physician and their
