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With 16 months under his belt as the new head of global R&D for Merck KGaA's biopharmaceuticals division, Luciano Rossetti has pruned the pipeline, accelerated the unit's cancer immunotherapy efforts and revived one late-stage program. Evidence of whether he's put the pipeline on solid footing could come as early as next half, when many of these programs start to read out.

Rossetti, formerly SVP of late stage development at Merck & Co. Inc., came on board in July 2014. He replaced interim head of R&D Belén Garijo, who resumed her position as president and CEO of Merck's biopharma division...