Astellas has promoted Catherine Wertjes to Head of Ethics & Compliance, with responsibility for ethics and compliance, anti-bribery and anti-corruption initiatives worldwide. The move is effective from 1 April. She will be based at Astellas' headquarters for the Americas in Northbrook, Illinois and report to Yoshirou Miyokawa, Chief Compliance Officer.
Catherine Levitt, currently Vice President of Risk Management and Chief Litigation Counsel for Astellas US, will assume Wertjes' previous role as Vice President, Legal for Astellas US.
Wertjes joined Fujisawa Healthcare in 2000 as associate general counsel, specialising in regulatory law, compliance counseling and litigation. She assumed roles of increasing responsibility after Fujisawa and Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical Co merged in 2005, becoming the head of Astellas' US legal department in 2012.
Prior to Fujisawa, she served in global in-house litigation and regulatory and compliance counselling roles at G.D. Searle & Co (later acquired by Pharmacia and now part of Pfizer).
Catherine Levitt
Levitt joined Fujisawa in 2004 as assistant general counsel, specialising in litigation. After the formation of Astellas in 2005, she was promoted to associate, followed by deputy general counsel. In 2013, she was named vice president, risk management and chief litigation counsel. Prior to Astellas, she served as corporate counsel at Baxter Healthcare and People's Energy.
