US specialist biopharmaceutical company Savient has appointed a former Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) executive as President of its European operations.

David Veitch will set up and lead Savient’s European organisation in order to introduce the company’s gout treatment Krystexxa (pegloticase) to this market.

Savient expects Krystexxa to be available in the EU on a named patient basis for treatment of chronic gout by the end of March.

Veitch has 24 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical industry, including 10 years at BMS, where he became Senior VP of European Marketing and Brand Commercialisation. He has also held managerial positions at SmithKline Beecham, now part of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).

John Johnson, CEO and President of Savient, said of the company’s new executive: “David has spent more than twenty years in critical pharmaceutical leadership positions within the European markets and has a track record of successfully launching specialty products in Europe.”

Mylan has launched its Rivastigmine capsules to treat dementia in Alzheimer’s patients, the first generic version of Novartis’ Exelon in the UK.

Robert J. Coury, Mylan’s Chairman and CEO, said that the drug is Mylan’s second recent first-to-market generic to be launched in the UK, following the company's launch of Modafinil tablets, the generic version of Cephalon's Provigil, earlier this year.

He said that the launch marks the company’s continued “commitment of providing high quality and affordable medicines to patients around the world”.

Mylan provides global generic and specialty pharmaceuticals in 150 countries and territories.