CHADDS FORD, Pa. — Julie McHugh has been hired as the new chief operating officer at Endo Pharmaceuticals.

Plans call for McHugh to begin in the COO post effective March 15, the specialty pharmaceutical company said Friday.

Most recently, she was president and chief executive officer of Nora Therapeutics, a venture capital-backed biotech startup developing novel therapies to prevent implantation failure in the setting of in-vitro fertilization and recurrent pregnancy loss.

Before joining Nora, McHugh held senior positions at Johnson & Johnson during a 12-year period, according to Endo. Her last role at J&J was company group chairman for the Global Virology Business Unit. Prior to that, she was President of Centocor Inc., a J&J company. Previously, Ms. McHugh held marketing positions of increasing scope and accountability at Astra-Merck, Rhone-Poulenc Rorer (sanofi-aventis) and SmithKline (GlaxoSmithKline).

"I am very pleased to announce Julie’s appointment as our chief operating officer," Endo president and CEO David Holveck said in a statement. "Julie is uniquely qualified to serve in this important role, given her leadership experience in general management, strategic marketing, product management, sales leadership and portfolio planning. With her impressive track record of leading businesses and delivering strong financial results in the consumer, pharmaceutical and biotechnology arenas, Julie is ideally suited to lead in our transformation to provide integrated healthcare solutions throughout the patient care pathway."