C&L: Valeant makes management changes

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 06:59:52 -0500

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International has appointed J. Michael Pearson to the position of chief executive officer following the resignation of Timothy Tyson as president, chief executive officer and a director of the company. In addition, Robert A. Ingram will step down as Valeant's current chairman, but will remain on the board as the lead director. Pearson will assume the role of chairman of the board of directors.

Neurogen announced Monday that its president, Stephen Davis, has been appointed chief executive officer at the biotechnology company. Former CEO William Koster has retired and remains a member of the company's board of directors.

Solvay President and CEO Laurence Downey plans to retire in April after some 30 years with the company.

Genelabs Technologies said that its president and chief executive, James Smith, has resigned.

Altus Pharmaceuticals reports its president and CEO, Sheldon Berkle, has resigned from his executive posts and from the board of directors. The board has appointed company chairman David Pendergast as interim executive chairman while the firm searches for a new chief executive.

Minerva Biotechnologies is recruiting a new CEO following the board of director's decision to fire CEO Jim Czirr. At the same time, the company has filed a lawsuit against Czirr in Massachusetts Superior Court.

Xenome Limited announced the appointment of Ian Nisbet, PhD as the company's chief executive officer.

R. Ian Lennox has been appointed chairman and chief executive officer of Ricerca Biosciences LLC.

Amyris has appointed Jeryl Hilleman to the new position of chief financial officer.

Synosia Therapeutics has named Philippe Lutz MA Finance, as the company's first chief financial officer. He will be based at Synosia's new headquarters in Basel, Switzerland.

Immunosyn Corporation announced that Douglas McClain, Jr., will resume the duties of CFO effective February 1. McClain also serves as the company's chairman of the board and corporate secretary. At the same time Immunosyn announced the resignation of G. David Criner as the company's chief financial and accounting officer. Criner, hired in October 2007, is leaving due to family matters.

Omrix announced that Ana Stancic has, by mutual agreement with the company, resigned as executive vice president and chief financial officer, effective February 19. The company is undertaking a search for a new CFO.

MAP Pharmaceuticals announced that Stephen Shrewsbury, M.B., Ch.B., chief medical officer, will be leaving the company for personal reasons.

Poniard Pharmaceuticals has appointed Robert De Jager, M.D., as chief medical officer.

Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals, a Newport, Kentucky based pharmaceutical company, announced two senior appointments today: Gary Shangold, M.D., FACOG as CMO and Timothy Arendt as vice president of sales.

Genetic Immunity has appointed Richard Pollard, M.D. as chief medical officer.

The Burnham Institute for Medical Research announced that Daniel Kelly, M.D. will assume the position of scientific director of Burnham at Lake Nona in Orlando, Florida.

VIVALIS announces the reinforcement of its team with Dr. Frédéric Legros' arrival, as business developer.

Kendle has hired Satish Tripathi, PhD, RAC as vice president, global regulatory and quality.

Xenon Pharmaceuticals has appointed Charles Cohen as vice president, discovery research.

GeoVax Labs has added co-founder Dr. Harriet Robinson to its staff as vice president of R&D.

William Hahne, M.D. has joined Vion Pharmaceuticals' senior management team as vice president, medical.

BioTrove announced the promotions of Kevin Munnelly and Can "Jon" Ozbal, Ph.D. to vice president and general manager of the company's OpenArray and RapidFire divisions, respectively.

Anthera Pharmaceuticals has appointed the first five members of its Scientific Advisory Board for A-623, a peptide fusion protein licensed from Amgen. They are: Jill Buyon, M.D.; Betty Diamond, M.D; Kenneth Kalunian, M.D.; David Wofsy, M.D.; Debra Zack, M.D., Ph.D.

China Pharma Holdings has named G. Michael Bennett, Yingwen Zhang and Baowen Dong to its board of directors, forming the company's audit committee.

Amarin Corporation has established the position of lead independent director and has appointed current board member Dr. William Mason to the role.

Predictive Biosciences announced that Dr. Martin Madaus has joined the company's board of directors.

Koronis Pharmaceuticals has named Daniel Petree and George Painter, Ph.D. to the company's board of directors.

Tigris Pharmaceuticals has named Pedro Granadillo to its board of directors.

Helicos BioSciences announced that Elisabeth Allison, PhD, has been named to the Helicos board of directors.

Medgenics has appointed Lord Steinberg as a non-executive director with immediate effect.

Immucor disclosed that Ronny B. Lancaster has agreed to join Immucor's board of directors.

Rosetta Genomics has established a medical advisory board. They are: Prof. Moshe Hod - chairman; Prof. Harvey I. Pass - vice chairman; Prof. David Sidransky, M.D; Dr. Isaac Yaniv; Prof. Jack Baniel; Prof. Raphael Catane; Dr. Maya Gottfried.

Ardea Biosciences has formed a human immunodeficiency virus Scientific Advisory Board with the appointment of seven members, chaired by David Ho, M.D.

Dr. Howard Fields has joined the Scientific Advisory Board of NanoViricides.