Pam Cheng leaves Merck for top manufacturing job at AstraZeneca

Pam Cheng

AstraZeneca ($AZN) has snatched a Merck ($MRK) executive to oversee its manufacturing and supply chain operations. The U.K. company said that Pam Cheng, who most recently was president of Merck/MSD China, was named executive vice president and will report directly to AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot. He said her knowledge of China was an added benefit to her experience in supply chain management. Cheng will be over manufacturing operations, supply chain and procurement, as well as information technology globally. She replaces David Smith, who is retiring from the company. She comes on even as AstraZeneca is in the midst of building several new plants. Earlier this month the company said it would invest $125 million to build a plant in Algeria through a joint venture there. In May, the company announced plans to spend $285 million on a new filling and packaging facility at its site in Södertälje, Sweden. Announcement | More