Philip Morris International named longtime government, corporate and public policymaker Keagan Leniham head of its Washington, D.C., office as the maker of Marlboro cigarettes continues its move away from tobacco.
Lenihan was previously vice president of operations with Altoida, a medical device company specializing in using artificial intelligence to predict neurological diseases. With Philip Morris, she becomes vice president of government affairs.
Leniham’s past experience includes stints as associate commissioner for external affairs and strategic initiatives at the FDA. She also served as the FDA's chief of staff from 2019 to 2021.
Before working for the drug regulator, she was a senior counselor for the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) and was a special assistant to the president tasked with managing hiring at a number of government agencies that included HHS.
Philip Morris, for its part, last year debuted its “Beyond Nicotine” strategy as part of its move away from cigarette sales and into business areas such as respiratory drug delivery and “selfcare wellness."
Philip Morris followed that announcement with its purchase of oral drug delivery company Fertin Pharma for $813 million last summer.
A week later, the company made a 1.2 billion euro ($1.4 billion) offer for U.K. inhalation specialist turned CDMO Vectura. The Vectura deal closed in September despite concerns from some health groups.