Welcome to this week's roundup of hirings and firings throughout the industry. Please send the good word (or the bad) from your shop to Alison Bryant (email | Twitter) and we will feature it here each Friday.
David A. DeWahl takes the helm at Ischemix
David A. DeWahl, a former investment banker and life sciences executive, accepted the top spot as president and CEO at Ischemix, a company working on a drug candidate designed to reduce damage to tissues due to lack of blood flow. The candidate, CMX-2043, is now being tested as a preventative measure in patients planning to undergo percutaneous coronary intervention, a market estimated at 2 million U.S. patients per year and $1 billion annually. DeWahl was previously a senior executive and co-founder, respectively, of Helix Therapeutics and Life Science Pharmaceuticals. Prior to that, he worked as an investment banker focused on healthcare and life sciences. "I believe the Ischemix strategy targeting large, unmet medical needs in the cardiovascular and renal fields and the positive data from the Phase 2a trial of our lead compound will enable us to attract the resources required to accelerate the development of the company's pipeline," DeWahl said in a statement. Release | More
|
Biotech
> Novo Nordisk's ($NVO) North American branch promoted Curtis G. Oltmans to corporate vice president and general counsel for legal and quality affairs. Oltmans previously led the legal affairs team and Novo Nordisk's Native American Health Initiative. Release
> BioMed Realty Trust ($BMR) appointed Daniel M. Bradbury as the eighth member of its board of directors. Bradbury comes from Amylin Pharmaceuticals where he was president and CEO. Release
> Esperion Therapeutics named Tim Mayleben its president and CEO. Esperion specializes in cardiometabolic disorders, and Mayleben comes from Aastrom Biosciences ($ASTM), where he was president and CEO. Release
> Discovery Laboratories ($DSCO) appointed John G. Cooper as its president and CEO. Cooper was president and CFO since 2010 and replaces W. Thomas Amich who recently resigned as chairman of the board of directors and CEO. Cooper will continue to serve as CFO. Release
> Hookipa Biotech, a vaccine startup, brought on Thomas P. Monath as its chief medical officer and Farshad Guirakhoo as its chief scientific officer. Release
> Select Medical ($SEM) named Dr. Samuel Hammerman as the chief medical officer of its long-term acute care hospital division. Hammerman has served as medical director at two hospitals and has a background in pulmonology and critical care medicine. Release
> TVAX Biomedical brings in Philip Haworth as its new CEO to replace Gary Wood, who will now serve as the company's chief science officer. Release
> Orgenesis ($ORGS) appointed Sav DiPasquale as its new president and CEO. The company is in the development stage with a diabetes therapy for converting a patient's liver cells into ones that produce insulin. Release
> Ambrx announced that Lawson Macartney would be its new president and CEO. Macartney has more than 20 years of experience and comes from Shire ($SHPG), where he was vice president. Release
> DiaMedica tapped Mark Robbins to serve as vice president of clinical and regulatory affairs. Robbins joins the company after serving as president and CEO of Kodiak Strategy Consultants. Release
> Celator Pharmaceuticals appointed Lisa DeLuca as vice president of regulatory affairs. DeLuca joins Celator having recently worked at Sanofi-Topaz. Release
> AtheroNova has hired Joan E. Shaw as senior director of clinical operations. Between 2002 and 2012, Shaw served in multiple areas of AstraZeneca ($AZN), ultimately serving as executive director of clinical operations. Release
> Particle Sciences appointed Deepak Tiwari to the position of director of formulation and process development. Most recently, Tiwari served as director of pharmaceutical development at Agennix. Release
> LifeScience Alley promoted Shaye Mandle to executive vice president and chief operating officer. Mandle has served as vice president of government and affiliate relations for the past year and a half. Release
> Pantheon appointed Aqeel Fatmi executive vice president of global research and development of the proprietary products and technology business as well as Patheon's chief scientific officer. Release
> BioInvent International is searching for a new CEO after its Jan. 9 announcement that CEO Svein Mathisen has resigned from his position. Release
> Albany Molecular Research ($AMRI) has promoted Richard A. Saffee to vice president and general manager of large scale manufacturing. Before joining AMRI in 2009, Saffee led manufacturing activities for multiple U.S.-based operations for Pfizer Global Manufacturing and Pfizer Global Human Health. Release
> Mark Edwards has joined U.K.-based SCM Pharma as quality assurance director. Edwards has more than 30 years of experience in the global pharmaceutical and biotech industry and has worked with companies like Merck ($MRK), Abbott ($ABT) and Fujifilm. Release
> Zealand Pharma announced the appointment of Agneta Svedberg as COO. She replaces Senior Vice President and COO John Hyttel, one of Zealand's founders, on the executive management team. Release
> Adventrx Pharmaceuticals ($ANX) appointed Brandi L. Roberts to CFO and senior vice president. Roberts was VP of finance since March 2011. Release
> Osmotica Pharmaceutical promoted Dr. Praveen Tyle to president and CEO of the company. Former CEO R. Forrest Waldon will act as an adviser and serve on the board. Dr. Tyle joined Osmotica as chief scientific officer and executive vice president and managing director of the Marietta, GA, site in August. Release
Pharma
> Genzyme's President and CEO David Meeker will serve on Savient Pharmaceuticals' ($SVNT) board of directors. The change went into effect Jan. 7. Additionally, Savient announced the resignation from the company's board of William F. Owen, who will serve as CEO of the Sidra Medical and Research Center. The number of board members remains at 7. Release
Drug Delivery
> Drug delivery company ArmaGen Technologies announced that James Callaway would be its new CEO and a member of its board of directors. Dr. Callaway was most recently president and CEO of Cebix. Release