Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis has named Shannon Klinger as chief ethics and compliance officer and head of litigation, effective as of May 1. She assumes these responsibilities from Eric Cornut, who is retiring.

Klinger joined Novartis in 2011 as general counsel, North America for Sandoz in the United States. In 2012, she moved to Germany and became the global head of legal and general counsel for Sandoz International GmbH.

Prior to joining Sandoz, Klinger held senior legal positions at Mayer Brown, Solvay Pharmaceuticals and Barr Laboratories. Before that, she was a partner at Alston & Bird in the United States, where she focused on antitrust, pharmaceutical legal and regulatory matters, and False Claims Act litigation.

Cornut is retiring at a time when Novartis is facing a criminal investigation amid allegations that it made illegal payments to physcians in South Korea.  In March, it reached a $25 million settlement with the SEC for violating the books and records and internal accounting controls provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act concerning its operations in China.

Topics