Acadia names Steve Davis as CEO

Chutes and Ladders

Welcome to this week's Chutes and Ladders, our roundup of hirings and retirings throughout the industry. Please send the good word--or the bad--from your shop to Eric Sagonowsky (email) or Amirah Al Idrus (email | Twitter), and we will feature it here at the end of each week.

Acadia names Steve Davis as CEO

Acadia Pharmaceuticals
Steve Davis was named CEO.

After serving since March as interim CEO at Acadia Pharmaceuticals ($ACAD), Steve Davis assumed the position on a permanent basis this week, the company announced. Davis, who will also join Acadia's board, has more than two decades of executive experience, including senior positions at Heron Therapeutics ($HRTX), Ardea Biosciences and Neurogen. After joining Acadia in July 2014 as executive vice president, CFO and CBO, Davis took on the interim CEO position in March when longtime CEO Uli Hacksell retired suddenly as the company delayed an expected NDA for pimavanserin to treat psychosis tied to Parkinson's disease. With Davis' announcement, the company said it has finally submitted that NDA. Story | Release


HLI announces appointment of COO Winham

Human Longevity Inc.
Mark Winham was named COO.

J. Craig Venter's Human Longevity Inc. (HLI) has appointed Mark Winham as its new COO, a role in which he'll be responsible for managing the expanding sequencing, laboratory, product pipeline and facility operations at HLI. Winham joins HLI--which has lured top-tier IT talent since its inception--from drug-testing lab Millennium Health, where he also served as COO. Before joining Millennium Health, Winham spent a decade at Life Technologies, in which time he held posts including VP of global manufacturing. His hiring comes 7 weeks after HLI picked Kurt Oreshack for the position of general counsel. Story | Release


TWi's president, CEO Tina Guilder resigns

TWi Pharmaceuticals
CEO Tina Guilder resigned.

TWi Pharmaceuticals of Taiwan announced that its president and CEO Tina Guilder has resigned less than a year after she joined the company from Teva Pharmaceutical Industries ($TEVA). Guilder will be replaced by TWi Chairman Dr. Chih-Ming Chen on an interim basis. Chen is TWi's founder, and in his chairman role he has "historically been the chief architect of TWi's strategy," the company's statement read. TWi seeks to strengthen R&D and its business expansion into the U.S. and international generics markets. Release


Mayne Pharma will spend $65M to expand a North Carolina facility, adding 110 positions. Story

China poached 50 to 60 Indian scientists to build formulation expertise. Story

Services are growing in Singapore with an Asian clinical, manufacturing biologics boom. Story


Biotech

> Dr. Andrew Zambanini joined Atopix as chief medical officer. Release

> AmpliPhi Biosciences ($APHB) named Alexander Gaidamaka as vice president of chemistry, manufacturing and control. Release

> StemProtein appointed Thomas Silberg as CEO. Release

> Faraday Pharmaceuticals named Dr. Stephen Hill as CEO. Release

> Neurocrine Biosciences ($NBIX) added Dr. Alfred Sandrock, Biogen's chief medical officer and group senior vice president, to its board of directors. Release

> AMRI ($AMRI) appointed Christopher Conway as senior vice president of discovery and development and global commercial sales. Release

> Paul Brennan joined InMed as president and CEO. Release

> Humacyte added Kathleen Sebelius and Dale Sander to its board of directors. Release

> Visterra appointed John Weidenbruch as general counsel. Release

> Ignyta ($RXDX) named Valerie Harding as senior vice president of chemistry, manufacturing and controls. Release

> Precision BioSciences appointed Gene Liau as senior vice president of gene therapy and Bruce McCreedy as senior vice president of cell therapy. Release

> Summit Therapeutics ($SMMT) appointed Dr. Ralf Rosskamp as chief medical officer. Release

> Imprimis Pharmaceuticals ($IMMY) added Anthony Principi to its board of directors. Release

> Kastle Therapeutics appointed Sean McAuliffe as vice president, commercial, Nick Smith as director, commercial strategy and analytics and Tony Smolcich as director, business operations. Release

> Smart Vision Labs named Jeff Mortensen as its vice president of sales. Release

> Mark Davis joined Cold Chain Technologies as its global logistics services director. Release

GenomOncology appointed Benjamin Salisbury as its vice president of new products and marketing. Release

Matinas BioPharma brought on Raphael Mannino as its senior vice president and chief technology officer. Release

> Dr. Elena Hitraya joined Crescendo Bioscience as its chief medical officer. Release

Proteon Therapeutics ($PRTO) appointed Jennifer Panagoulias as its vice president of regulatory affairs. Release

Dr. Gary Sternberg and John McCabe joined Eleven Biotherapeutics ($EBIO) as its chief business officer and senior vice president of finance, respectively. Release

Allied Minds named Joseph Pignato as its chief financial officer. Release

Valtronic Group brought on Rainer Platz as its CEO. Release

Erytech appointed Eric Soyer as its CFO and COO. Release

Dr. Michael Myers joined Syndax as its senior vice president and chief development officer. Release

Med Tech

> STAAR Surgical ($STAA) added William Wall to its board of directors. Release

> Daxor hired Lisa Quartley as senior vice president of marketing and commercial development. Release

> OrthoAccel Technologies named Frank Grunau as regional director of Europe, Middle East and Africa. Release

CRO

> Advanced Clinical hired Melissa Mauriber as vice president of clinical operations quality and talent development. Release