AstraZeneca today announced the appointment of Sharon Barr as Executive Vice President, BioPharmaceuticals R&D. Sharon will succeed Mene Pangalos, who is retiring and will step down from his role early next year, after almost fourteen years with the company and an illustrious 35-year career. Sharon has been Senior Vice President, Head of Research and Product Development of Alexion, AstraZeneca’s rare disease group, since 2013. In this role she has been responsible for drug discovery, process development and clinical supply as well as clinical biomarkers and bioanalytical discovery, rare disease diagnostics and bioinformatics supporting Alexion’s industry-leading rare disease pipeline from target discovery through post-marketing