Singapore: Pharmaceutical Product Development, a leading global contract research organization, has appointed Dr Louis Renzetti as vice president of strategic laboratory operations.

"Lou brings strong pharmaceutical expertise to help us build and strengthen our strategic lab partnerships with pharma, biotech, academia and government clients," said Dr Lee Babiss, PPD's executive vice president of global lab services and chief scientific officer. "His leadership will be instrumental as we continue implementing innovative new strategies to integrate our laboratory and phase I services with our Phase II-IV services to provide clients with end-to-end, value-chain capabilities."

Dr Renzetti's experience includes more than 20 years of leadership and accomplishments in drug discovery as a pharmacologist, drug development specialist and therapeutic area leader. Prior to joining PPD, Dr Renzetti served at Roche in a series of senior leadership positions, most recently as vice president and global head of the RNA therapeutics division. There he led the company's efforts to advance a revolutionary therapeutic platform to treat severe diseases such as cancer.

Dr Renzetti completed postdoctoral training in pharmacology at ICI Pharmaceuticals, now part of AstraZeneca. He earned a doctorate degree in physiology from Temple University School of Medicine and a bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania.