Chutes & Ladders: Stada names four board nominees as proxy war heats up

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

Stada names four board nominees as proxy war heats up 

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Stada
Stada has selected four individuals as board nominees. 

Stada has put forth its own selections of board nominees. This includes Tina Mueller, chief marketing officer at Opel; Gunner Reimann, former head of Bayer’s Environmental Science unit; Rolf Hoffmann, former SVP of U.S. commercial operations at Amgen ($AMGN); and Brigit Kudlek, former COO of Aenova. All are “highly suitable for the responsibilities” that come along in the boardroom, Chairman Martin Abend said in a statement. A vote will take place at the company’s annual meeting in late August. Should Stada’s picks make it through, the four will earn a 5-year term. However, they will have to beat out rebel shareholder Active Ownership Capital, which urged Stada’s larger shareholders to help pick candidates of their own. FiercePharma


 

Jonathan Garen takes on chief business officer role at uniQure

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uniQure
uniQure has named Jonathan Garen as chief business officer

With over 20 years of experience in business development in the pharmaceutical sector, Jonathan Garen has been appointed as chief business officer for uniQure ($QURE). In that role, Garen will report to CEO Daniel Soland and be responsible for strategic transactions, focusing on business development and alliance management, the announcement said. He will be based in the Lexington, Massachusetts office. Recently, Garen worked at Syros Pharmaceuticals, Inc. as its chief business officer. Before that, Garen worked as the assistant vice president of business development for Forest Laboratories. Garen held the same position at Actavis. Garen also founded and was the vice president of Technology Exchange, Inc. Release


Merus Labs names Michael Bumby and Frank Fokkinga to exec roles

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Merus
Merus named Bumby CFO and Fokkinga VP of of global regulatory affairs

Merus Labs International, Inc. has named two people to executive roles. First, Michael Bumby was appointed chief financial officer as Andrew Patient steps down from that role to pursue other opportunities outside the company, the announcement said. Bumby held the CFO position most recently at Acerus Pharmaceuticals and worked for 14 years with Eli LIlly ($LLY).

Merus also named Frank Fokkinga as vice president of global regulatory affairs, quality and compliance. According to the announcement, Fokkinga has worked over 30 years in the pharmaceutical industry in regards to regulatory affairs, global market research, business development and market access. Release


Robert Farrell takes on role of president and chief financial officer at Kalytera Therapeutics. Release

> Aratana Therapeutics ($PETX) names Brent Standridge to the newly created COO role. Release

Burkhard Blank is now the chief medical officer at Acorda ($ACOR). Release

> Bone Biologics welcomes Scott Boden as chief medical adviser. Release

Jean-Marie Cuillerot will be vice president and global head of clinical development at Agenus ($AGEN). Release

> Recro Pharma ($REPH) has named Michael Celano as its new chief financial officer. Release

Mark Fraga, Scott Kelley and Dan Thorton take on VP roles at Flexion ($FLXN) amid plans for the commercial launch of Zilretta. Release

> Recipharm AB appoints Ann Flodin as the new general manager in Research Triangle Park, NC. Release

> Cidara Therapeutics’ ($CDTX) management expands with Neil Abdollahian and Matt Onaitis joining the executive management team. Release

> Biotie appoints Antero Kallio and Kristian Rantala as CEO and CFO, respectively. Report