Philip Morris has named Keagan Leniham who is a former government, corporate and public policymaker as the head of its Washington D.C. office. This is one of Philp Morris’s moves away from tobacco business. She has been appointed as the vice president of government affairs.
She will join from Altoida, which is a medical device company specializing in artificial intelligence applications to treat neurological diseases. Her previous positions included stints as associate commissioner for external affairs and strategic initiative at the FDA. She was also FDA’s chief of staff from 2019 to 2021.
Prior to her work for the FDA, she was the senior counselor for the secretary of health and human services (HHS) and also was at the post of the special assistant to the President responsible for hiring for various government agencies including HHS.
Philip Morris international, most famous for their Marlboro brand of cigarettes debuted last year with the new “Beyond Nicotine” strategy as part of its move away from cigarette sales and to explore new business area such as respiratory drug delivery and “selfcare wellness”.
Philp Morris announced a deal to purchase oral drug delivery company Fertin Pharma for $813 million last year. Additionally, Philip Morris made a 1.2 billion euro ($1.4 billion) offer for U.K. inhalation specialist turned CDMO Vectura. The Vectura deal was closed in September despite many concerns from health groups in the U.S.