Roche names new head of $13 billion diagnostics unit

ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss drugmaker Roche on Tuesday named a new head of its $13-billion-per-year diagnostics business and also said board member Peter Voser is stepping down to focus on his expanded duties as interim head of Swiss engineering group ABB.

Roche's new diagnostics boss, Thomas Schinecker, fills a post that had been led for months on an interim basis by Michael Heuer, who is retiring. Roche's diagnostics unit includes diabetes care, sophisticated laboratory equipment and tests aimed at personalizing cancer treatment.

With Schinecker, 44, Roche has looked inside the company to finally fill a key leadership position vacated last August by Roland Diggelmann. Schinecker began his career in 2003 as a trainee for Roche Diagnostics before moving up the ranks in jobs in the United States, Singapore, Austria, Sweden and Switzerland.

"Thomas Schinecker has broad and international experience in our business," Roche CEO Severin Schwan said in a statement.

Roche's head of group communications, Stephan Feldhaus, is also leaving in September, to be replaced by Barbara Schaedler, who is now head of public affairs at E.ON SE.

Voser had been on Roche's board since 2011 but wants to dedicate more time as interim CEO of ABB, a post he has filled since Ulrich Spiesshofer left the robotics and automation company in April.

(Reporting by John Miller, editing by John Revill)