Bayer Norden: Danish doctor to be new Head of Bayer Schering Pharma’s Women’s Healthcare & General Medicine unit

14-May-2010
Danish doctor to be new Head of Bayer Schering Pharma’s Women’s Healthcare & General Medicine unit
Effective from June 1, 2010, Dr. Flemming Ørnskov will head the new Women’s Healthcare & General Medicine unit of Bayer Schering Pharma and be a member of the BSP Executive Committee.

He joins BSP from Bausch & Lomb, Inc., where he served as Global President, Pharmaceuticals and OTC, from 2008 to 2010. He was responsible for the company's prescription ophthalmic pharmaceuticals and generics, as well as its general eye health and vitamins businesses.

From doctor to CEO

As a young doctor, Ørnskov caught an interest in healthcare and management while working at Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen. He therefore took an MBA at INSEAD in France and later an MPH (Master of Public Health) at Harvard University. These merits led him on to a job with the U.S. pharmaceutical company, Merck, in both its global and U.S. headquarters, lastly as head of the Urology Franchise Business Group.

Extensive healthcare experience

In 2001 he joined Novartis of Switzerland to be responsible for their cardio-vascular and diabetes franchise. He also served as President of the Global Ophthalmics Business Unit at Novartis AG.

In 2005, he became CEO of Ikaria, Inc., a privately owned biotech company in Seattle, USA, before moving on to the biotech company LifeCycle Pharma in Denmark, bringing him back to his home country.

At LifeCycle he was Chairman of the Board from 2005 to 2006, and subsequently interim President and CEO from 2007 to 2008, leading both a successful IPO and a follow-up equity offering.

In 2008 he became Global President for Bausch & Lomb.

Head of 10,000 employees

Born in 1958, Flemming Ørnskov is married and has four children. At Bayer Schering Pharma he will be global head of the business units dealing with cardiovascular, lung, infectious and women’s diseases. He will be the leader of 10,000 employees worldwide and oversee an annual turnover of six billion Euros.