The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), an organisation that represents many of the United States biopharmaceutical research companies, announced yesterday that it has named David Ricks as the chairman-elect and Ramona Sequeira, president of Takeda Pharmaceuticals, USA, as the board treasurer.

Ricks has served as CEO of Lilly since 1 January 2017 and became chairman of the board of directors on 1 June 2017. He earlier served as president of Lilly Bio-Medicines and as president of Lilly USA. He also served as president and general manager of Lilly China, operating in one of the world's fastest-growing emerging markets, and general manager of Lilly Canada after roles as director of pharmaceutical marketing and national sales director in that country. He is the president of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations and serves on the boards of Adobe and the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership. He also chairs the Riley Children's Foundation board of governors.

Sequeira has served as the president of Takeda Pharmaceuticals USA since May 2015. She is a member of Takeda's executive team. Prior to joining Takeda, Sequeira held various senior roles of increasing responsibility at Lilly. Throughout her career in the biopharmaceutical Industry, which began in 1991, Sequeira has led successful businesses across multiple countries and healthcare systems including Canada, the United States and Europe where she was a member of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry. Since Takeda's January 2019 acquisition of Shire, Sequeira leads Takeda's US Business Unit, focused on the areas of Neuroscience, Gastrointestinal Disease, Immunology, and Haematology and Rare Disease.