Taiho Oncology appoints new president

 

Timothy Whitten has become president of Taiho Oncology Inc. (U.S.), a subsidiary of Taiho Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. (Japan). Whitten was senior VP and chief operating officer. In his new role, Whitten will assume leadership responsibility for corporate, commercial, and clinical development-related functions at Taiho Oncology, as well as hold operational responsibility for Taiho Pharma Canada Inc. and Taiho Pharma Europe Ltd.

Whitten will continue to report to Taiho Oncology’s departing president, Eric C. Benn, who will remain CEO until his retirement on April 1, at which time Whitten also will be named CEO. At that time Whitten will report directly to Masayuki Kobayashi, president and representative director, Taiho Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., which has headquarters in Tokyo.

“As I planned my retirement after nearly a decade at Taiho and 40 years in the pharmaceutical industry, Tim was an obvious choice to take our company to the next level of clinical development and commercial excellence in the West, and to support our quest to become a top 10 oncology company globally,” Benn says. “Under Tim’s leadership, we have made great strides in establishing our global presence in the oncology pharmaceutical arena, and we have an exciting future ahead of us as we continue to focus on patients with cancer through the development of our robust global pipeline and product commercialization.”

Whitten joined Taiho Oncology in 2013 as senior VP and chief commercial officer to oversee the company’s commercial functions and build Taiho Pharmaceutical’s first commercial business unit in the West. Whitten also was responsible for the development and execution of the company’s strategy for the successful launch of Lonsurf (trifluridine and tipiracil) Tablets, Taiho Oncology’s first approved product in the United States. Whitten was promoted to senior VP and chief operating officer in 2017, adding human resources to his responsibilities, as well as operations of Taiho Pharma Canada Inc.