Merck & Co., Inc. announced that Roger J. Pomerantz, M.D., has been named senior vice president of Merck Research Laboratories (MRL) and Infectious Diseases Franchise Head. In his new role, Dr. Pomerantz will oversee Merck’s global scientific direction and strategy across drug discovery and development for infectious diseases, including all antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal and antiparasitic agents.
 
“Roger has a strong track record of scientific accomplishments and leadership in the infectious diseases field,” said Luciano Rossetti, M.D., senior vice president, Global Scientific Strategy. “His expertise will play a critical role in Merck’s development of innovative medicines for infectious diseases that will treat millions of people worldwide.”
 
Prior to joining Merck, Dr. Pomerantz spent the last five years at Johnson & Johnson, where he most recently served as global head of infectious diseases and president of Peninsula Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson focused on antibacterial research. Since 2005, he was also president of Tibotec Pharmaceuticals, a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary focused on antiviral and tuberculosis research and development. Under Dr. Pomerantz’s leadership, Tibotec launched Prezista®, the first true second-generation anti-human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) protease inhibitor, and Intelence®, the first second-generation anti-HIV non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor. He also built a strong pipeline in HIV, HCV, and Tuberculosis therapeutics.
 
Before joining Johnson & Johnson, Dr. Pomerantz spent 15 years in academic medicine at Thomas Jefferson University and Medical School as professor of medicine, biochemistry and molecular pharmacology, chief of infectious diseases and founding director and chair of the Institute for Human Virology and Biodefense.
 
Dr. Pomerantz received his Bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Johns Hopkins University and his medical degree from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He completed his medical internship and residency, chief residency, and fellowship in infectious diseases at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Pomerantz conducted post-doctoral training in molecular retrovirology at Harvard Medical School and the Whitehead Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in the laboratory of Nobel laureate Dr. David Baltimore.
 
Dr. Pomerantz is a board-certified physician in both internal medicine and infectious diseases and is a fellow of the American College of Physicians. He has published over 300 peer-reviewed articles and given several hundred invited lectures on the clinical research, molecular pathogenesis and latency of HIV and other pathogenic human viruses.
       
Dr. Pomerantz will be based at Merck’s offices in North Wales, PA.

Date: March 23, 2010
Source: Merck & Co., Inc.