Wilmington-based drug-research company PPD has named a Pfizer executive to be its new CEO and chairman.

David Simmons takes over as CEO June 4, the company announced Wednesday. Simmons spent 15 years at Pfizer and was most recently president and general manager of the company's emerging markets and established products business units, which represent about $18.5 billion of Pfizer's annual revenue.

He has a degree in applied mathematics and industrial management from Carnegie-Mellon University.

"This is a remarkable opportunity to join and lead a world-class pharmaceutical services organization through its next phase of prosperity and expansion," Simmons said in a statement.

In December, PPD was acquired and taken private by two private equity firms, The Carlyle Group and Hellman & Friedman, for $3.9 billion.

GlaxoSmithKline has chosen two contract-research organizations to handle its future clinical drug development, including PPD of Wilmington and Parexel International, based in Massachusetts.

The news is a blow to other CROs in the Triangle, which is a hub for the drug-research industry, although it's unclear which companies were competing to work with GSK.

GSK spokeswoman Melinda Stubbee declined to name other companies that submitted bids. "It was an extremely competitive process," she added.

PPD continues to make moves into China.

The Wilmington company, which does clinical research for pharmaceutical
companies, announced this morning that it had completed its $77 million
acquisition of BioDuro.