National Pharmaceutical Council Board of Directors Elects Pfizer's Marie-Caroline Sainpy as Chairman

WASHINGTON, Oct. 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Pharmaceutical Council's Board of Directors today announced that it has elected Marie-Caroline Sainpy, Regional President for the NE Primary Care Business Unit at Pfizer Inc, to serve as Chairman for 2009-2010.

Ms. Sainpy has served in a variety of senior roles at Pfizer, which she joined in 1982. Prior to her current position, she was Senior Vice President/General Manager of the Customer Business Unit and Commercial Operations for the U.S. Prior to joining Pfizer Ms. Sainpy worked for Organon's U.S. Pharmaceutical Division, and Lazard Freres in New York. She has served on NPC's Board since 2007, most recently as Vice Chairman.

"NPC welcomes Ms. Sainpy as chairman," said NPC President Dan Leonard. "She shares our commitment to high standards of research and encouraging pharmaceutical innovation to improve patients' lives."

She takes on the chairmanship at a critical time, with Congress debating health care reform and increasing funding in the area of comparative effectiveness research, and with employers becoming more engaged in insurance design and improving employee health and productivity. As a result, during the last year NPC has taken a more active role in participating with health care stakeholders to demonstrate and communicate the value of biopharmaceuticals and vaccines through practical, evidence-based tools.

"As health reform drives the government into a greater role in determining guidelines and reimbursement of patient care, NPC will play an increasingly important part in providing analysis to help ensure that patient access and clinical quality are important factors in policy determinations," said Ms. Sainpy.

The NPC Board also elected Kevin T. Rigby, Vice President of Public Affairs and Communications at Novartis Pharmaceuticals, to serve as its Vice Chairman, and Robert A. McMahon, President of U.S. Commercial Operations at Merck & Co., as Treasurer.

About the National Pharmaceutical Council
NPC's overarching mission is to sponsor and conduct scientific analyses of the appropriate use of biopharmaceuticals and the clinical and economic value of innovation. The organization's strategic focus is on evidence-based medicine (EBM) for health care decision-making, to ensure that patients have access to high-quality care. NPC was established in 1953 and is supported by the nation's major research-based pharmaceutical companies. For more information, visit www.npcnow.org.