NORTHBROOK, Ill., April 1, 2013 – Astellas Pharma Global Development, Inc. (APGD), a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Astellas Pharma Inc. (Tokyo: 4503), announced Sef Kurstjens, M.D., PhD., has been promoted to Chief Medical Officer, a new position, effective April 1 and will also serve as president of Astellas Pharma Global Development, Inc. (APGD).

Dr. Kurstjens, who remains president of Astellas affiliate Agensys, will report to Tokyo-based Astellas Pharma Inc. President and CEO Yoshihiko Hatanaka. He will operate out of Northbrook, the company’s headquarters for APGD and Astellas in the Americas

The new Chief Medical Officer position is designed to further integrate and enhance the company’s delivery of global medical therapies. As Chief Medical Officer, Kurstjens will be responsible for Global Medical Affairs, which is headed by Senior Vice President Charlotte Kremer, M.D., Astellas Pharma Global Development and Global Pharmacovigilance, a new position at the company. Kurstjens will replace Dr. Steven Ryder as president of APGD, who retired earlier this year.

Kurstjens joined Agensys, an affiliate of Astellas Pharma Inc., as president in 2010 from Allergan, Inc., where he was Chief Medical Officer and head of Global Drug Development. He headed U.S. research and development at Astellas Pharma US, Inc. from 2005-2007. Previously, Kurstjens held a number of executive positions at Pfizer from 1993-2005 and started his pharmaceutical career at Sandoz, Basel in 1991. A native of South Africa, Kurstjens holds a medical degree and a Ph.D. from the University of Witwatersrand Medical School in Johannesburg.

While Kurstjens will continue as president of Agensys, the Santa Monica, Calif.-based affiliate, the day-to-day management of the organization will be handled by David Stover, Ph.D., who assumes the role of senior vice president and site head of Agensys. Stover moves up from vice president of research at Agensys.

Stover has 19 years of experience in both small molecule and antibody drug discovery, predominantly in the field of oncology.  Prior to joining Agensys in 2009, David served as the director of biotherapeutics at Novartis, the vice president, drug discovery at MDS Proteomics and the director of biochemistry at Kinetix Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Stover started his career at Ciba-Geigy/Novartis as a scientist and oncology project leader. Stover holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Washington and a bachelor’s of zoology from Duke University.

About Astellas

Astellas Pharma Global Development, Inc., located in Northbrook, Illinois, is an affiliate of Tokyo-based Astellas Pharma Inc. Astellas is a pharmaceutical company dedicated to improving the health of people around the world through the provision of innovative and reliable pharmaceutical products. For more information on Astellas, please visit our website at

www.astellas.us.