N.J. governor’s chief of staff will return to pharmaceutical industry

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s chief of staff is returning to the pharmaceutical industry in a newly created position with Celgene (NASDAQ: CELG) next month.

Richard Bagger will serve as senior vice president, corporate affairs and strategic market access, with responsibility for all government and public affairs, strategic market access, communications and patient advocacy initiatives, according to a press release from Celgene. He is scheduled to start January 30.

Prior to working for the governor, Bagger worked at Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) for more than 16 years until 2010, serving in several posts from U.S. government relations to public affairs. During his time at Pfizer, he also served as a New Jersey assemblyman for 10 years and briefly as a state Senator.

The role at Celgene was created to support the company’s global expansion, according to a press release from the drug maker. CEO Robert J. Hugin said: “We believe he will add a vital perspective to our business as we advance our science and novel therapies into new areas of medicine around the world.”

Celgene, in Summit, New Jersey, focuses on developing, producing and commercializing therapies to treat cancer and inflammatory diseases. It has a market cap of $29.7 billion. Revlamid, used to treat multiple myeloma and transfusion-dependent anemia, had sales of $3.2 billion as of the company’s third-quarter earnings announced in October. Analysts have pegged it as a large cap biotech to watch in 2012 because of its combination of strong income growth through Revlamid and its diverse pipeline.