Singapore: The Board of Medicines Australia has announced that Dr Martin Cross has been appointed as the new chair of Medicines Australia.

Dr Cross, who most recently was the MD of Alphapharm, chair of Generic Medicines Industry Association and chair of the Pharmaceutical Industry Council will assume charge in November this year.

Interim Medicines Australia chair, Mr Mark Fladrich, said that the Medicines Australia Board unanimously agreed to appoint Dr Cross as its chair. "The board is looking forward to working with Dr Cross to progress the issues of the innovative medicines industry in Australia. This is an important and challenging time for our members, so having someone of Dr Cross' calibre at the helm is exciting and I am sure he will serve our industry with distinction," he said in a press statement.

Medicines Australia CEO, Dr Brendan Shaw, too has said that he was delighted with the announcement. "This is a great appointment. Martin and I have worked together on various industry issues over the years, so I'm looking forward to working with Martin to prosecute the range of issues on the agenda for Medicines Australia. I also want to acknowledge Mr Mark Fladrich's leadership of Medicines Australia over recent months while a search for a permanent chair progressed and thank him for his contribution," Dr Shaw told the media.

Dr Cross has previously been MD of Novartis in Australia and a member of the Medicines Australia board. He has also previously worked over many years for ICI, Zeneca and AstraZeneca, another Medicines Australia member company.