William H. Rastetter will retire as executive chairman of Biogen Idec at the end of the year. Bruce Ross, chairman of the company's compensation committee, will become non-executive chairman of the board of directors. Ross is currently president of Cancer Rx, a healthcare consulting firm.
Memry has announced the retirement of CEO James Binch. Birch served as CEO since December 1991. Robert P. Belcher, CFO and senior VP of finance and administration, has been named acting CEO.
FoxHollow Technologies announced that president and CEO Robert W. Thomas will be retiring on January 1, 2006. Chairman Dr. John Simpson will replace Mr. Thomas as interim CEO.
Pepscan Systems has named Kenneth Freeman, MBA, MPA, Ph.D., as CFO. Prior to joining Pepscan, Dr. Freeman was a co-founder and vice chairman of the supervisory board of NADAG, senior director, financial operations, and a board member of ThromboGenics.
Dyax announced several promotions. Thomas R. Beck, M.D., has been promoted to president and COO. Prior to Dyax, Dr. Beck was the director, global research and development for UCB Pharma. Clive Wood, Ph.D., has been promoted to executive VP, discovery, research and chief scientific officer. Dr. Wood spent 17 years at Genetics Institute and its successor, Wyeth Research. Ivana Magovcevic-Liebisch, Ph.D., J.D., has been promoted to general counsel and executive VP of corporate communications. Before Dyax, she served as director of intellectual property at Transkaryotic Therapies.
CardioDynamics International has appointed Donald Brooks to the position of chief technology officer and Kevin Hammond to the position of VP of sales. Most recently, Brooks served as CardioDynamics' VP of product development and oversaw the BioZ Dx development. Mr. Hammond previously led the company's sales region for 2005.
CeNeRx BioPharma has announced the addition of Atul C. Pande, M.D., as chief medical officer. He was most recently VP of neurosciences development at Pfizer.
Bruce A. Leicher joins Antigenics as general counsel. Mr. Leicher was most recently VP, chief pharmaceutical counsel and compliance officer at Millennium Pharmaceuticals.
Kereos announced that Allen Nickols, Ph.D., has been appointed VP of biology. Nickols is the former director of pharmacology and Science Fellow at Pfizer Global R&D. The company also announced that Gregory Johnson, Ph.D., John Rice, Ph.D., and Martin Sanders, M.D., have been appointed to its board.
Alexza Pharmaceuticals has named three new VPs: William C. Houghton, M.D., joins the company as VP of clinical and regulatory affairs; William L. Leschensky, M.D., J.D., was promoted to VP, intellectual property; and Robert H. Strickland joins the company as VP of commercial manufacturing.
Gregory L. Bennett has been named Cholestech's VP of R&D. Mr. Bennett has been Cholestech's director of engineering since November 2003. He succeeds Dr. Thomas Worthy, who is retiring.
Alliant Pharmaceuticals has named Allen Fields, Ph.D.., as VP of R&D. The company also appointed Pete Joiner as director of national accounts.
Parextel International has appointed Todd A. Joron as corporate VP and general manager. Joron will manage Perceptive's global offerings.
Louis G. Lange, M.D, Ph.D., has been appointed to Maxygen's board of directors. Dr. Lange is a founder of CV Therapeutics and has served as chairman of the board and CEO of the company since August 1992. Previously, Dr. Lange served on the faculty of Washington University School of Medicine.
deCODE Genetics has named Dr. Linda Buck to join its board of directors. Dr. Buck received a Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in 2004.
Robert G. Funari, chairman and CEO of Crescent Healthcare, has been elected to Beckman Coulter's board of directors.
Neurocrine Biosciences has appointed Adrian Adams to its board of directors. Mr. Adams is president and CEO of Kos Pharmaceuticals.
Auxilium Pharmaceuticals has added Al Altomari and Oliver Fetzer to its board of directors. Mr. Altomari, CFO at Barrier Therapeutics, will also serve on the audit and compliance committee, filling the seat left open after Michael Wall resigned in June.
John W. Madigan has joined Gilead's board of directors. Mr. Madigan is the retired chairman and CEO of Tribune.