Top J&J executive joins Oramed board

Singapore: Oramed Pharmaceuticals has appointed Mr Gerald Ostrov, a former top executive of Johnson & Johnson and Bausch & Lomb, joined its board as director. Mr Ostrov has a long history of excellence and innovative thinking within the pharmaceutical, medical device, and consumer sectors.

He began his career with Johnson & Johnson in their health care division in 1976. After leaving the company for almost a decade to assume top executive roles for Ciba-Geigy (now Novartis), Mr Ostrov returned to Johnson & Johnson in 1991 to serve as president of consumer and personal care products unit. Within a few years he was promoted to company group chairman and became responsible for all consumer and personal care businesses in North America shortly thereafter.

Beginning in 1998 until his retirement in 2006, Mr Ostrov very successfully served as company group chairman for Johnson & Johnson's worldwide vision care businesses. He came out of retirement in 2008 to serve as chairman and CEO of Bausch & Lomb until 2010. During his appointment as CEO, Mr Ostrov assisted in the stabilization and streamlining of the company's business component following its privatization by private equity investors. He increased operating profit and cash flow via his focus on creating an innovative pipeline to ensure long term value, and decreased cost while improving quality.

"We are very pleased that Gerald has joined Oramed's board of directors. He brings much leadership experience and vision to the table, and we trust in his ability to contribute to Oramed's business model and long-term goals for establishing the company's pipeline on a global scale," said Oramed.

In addition to his current directorial position at Oramed, Mr Ostrov serves on the Boards of Orasure and Adlens Beacon, both companies that specialize in innovative medical technologies and devices. Mr Ostrov also consults and lectures regarding new technologies in the consumer products and consumer medical device fields.