KENILWORTH, N.J. — Sanat Chattopadhyay has been promoted to executive vice president and president of the Merck Manufacturing Division (MMD).

Plans call for Chattopadhyay, currently senior vice president of Global Manufacturing Operations (Human Health), to start in the new position on April 1. He succeeds Willie Deese who will retire on June 1 after 12 years with Merck.

“With more than 30 years of biopharmaceutical industry experience, Sanat has a proven track record of commercialization, manufacturing and supply chain excellence in therapeutic proteins, vaccines and pharmaceuticals,” stated Merck chairman and chief executive officer Kenneth Frazier. “Under his leadership, I am confident that MMD will continue to advance toward its goal of becoming a world-class supplier.”

Chattopadhyay, who joined Merck in 2009, was instrumental in transforming Merck Vaccines’ manufacturing and supply to grow and globalize the company’s vaccines business, according to Merck. He also played a key part in leading Merck’s launch of Keytruda (pembrolizumab) in record time by mobilizing a cross-divisional effort to overcome commercialization and supply constraints, the company noted.

Deese joined Merck in 2004 to lead the MMD’s global procurement team. The following year, he was promoted to president of MMD and joined the company’s executive committee.

“Under Willie’s leadership, we significantly improved our ability to serve patients and customers globally and transformed our operating model,” commented Frazier. “I would like to thank Willie for his unwavering focus on high performance, safety, compliance, and above all, customers and patients.”