Habib Dable to lead Bayer's U.S. pharma business

Oct 2, 2015 8:08am

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.

Habib Dable to lead Bayer's U.S. pharma business


	Bayer Habib Dable was named U.S. pharma head.

Bayer has a new U.S. pharmaceuticals leader in Habib Dable, who has been with the company since joining in 1994 as a sales representative. Previously, Dable was the global head of specialty medicine for Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, a role he held since 2013, managing the therapeutic areas of hematology, oncology, ophthalmology and neurology. In his new position, he'll report to Philip Blake, who moves to the role of head of the Americas for Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals. "Habib Dable is a highly respected leader at Bayer, and I'm thrilled to have someone with such a wealth of experience step in to lead the company's largest pharmaceuticals market worldwide," Blake said in a statement. "Having spent more than two decades at Bayer in a range of key roles with increasing management responsibility, Habib will be a critical asset as we look to build on our positive momentum in the U.S. to create long-term growth." Release

Human Longevity Inc. appoints William Roper as CFO


	Human Longevity Inc. William Roper was named CFO.

J. Craig Venter's Human Longevity Inc. (HLI) announced that William Roper, who had been serving as interim CFO, will assume the position on a full-time basis. He'll report directly to HLI CEO Venter, bringing experience in operational and financial management, mergers and acquisitions, capital raising, and strategic restructurings across a variety of industries. Among other career experience, Roper has served as an EVP with SAIC, where he helped the company grow annual revenues from less than $1 billion to nearly $9 billion over 17 years. "Bill brings a demonstrated track record of success navigating rapidly changing environments at the helm of both publicly-traded and privately-owned companies," Venter said in a statement. "His strategic business mind and marketplace savvy have already proven valuable to our HLI team, and we're thrilled he's agreed to join us full-time." Additionally, HLI promoted Viktoria Brough to vice president of finance, controller; she'll report to Roper. Release

Nina Kjellson named Canaan partner


	Canaan Partners Nina Kjellson was named general partner.

Veteran healthcare investor Nina Kjellson joined venture capital firm Canaan Partners this week as a general partner; she'll be based at the firm's Menlo Park, CA, office. Having previously served as a general partner at InterWest, Kjellson has been involved with more than two dozen investments that delivered successful exits over the last 13 years. Currently, she serves as a director of three biotech firms and a software company focused on health optimization. "Nina has a stellar track record of investing in a diversity of biopharmaceutical and digital health start-ups and this experience is a great fit with Canaan's strategy," Canaan Healthcare General Partner Wende Hutton said in a statement. "She also has a passion for high engagement, working side-by-side with entrepreneurs on early stage opportunities, which is Canaan's sweet spot." Additionally, Canaan promoted tenured investor Hrach Simonian to general partner in the firm's technology practice. Statement

Report: GSK will grow its manufacturing presence in France, adding 300 jobs, as it dumps an R&D facility. Story

Hovione is set to expand its NJ facility, adding new 60 positions. Story

Biotech

> AcelRx ($ACRX) hired Gina Ford as its vice president of commercial strategy. Release

> Dr. Jean-Paul Kress joined Sarepta Therapeutics' ($SRPT) board of directors. Release

> Atterocor appointed Jeffery Brinza as its senior vice president of administration and general counsel. Release

> Alvogen appointed Graham Baker as its chief financial officer. Release

> David Luther joined Mission Therapeutics as chief financial officer. Release

> The European Medicines Agency nominated Guido Rasi as its executive director. Release

> Haemonetics' CEO Brian Concannon stepped down, to be replaced by interim CEO Ronald Gelbman. Release

> Lpath ($LPTN) appointed Gary Atkinson as its interim CEO. Release

> The National Kidney Foundation named Kevin Longino its new CEO. Release

> Annette Favorite joined West Pharmaceutical ($WST) as its senior vice president and chief human resources officer. Release

> Flywheel appointed Imad Nijim as its chief operating officer. Release

> Varian Medical Systems appointed Rafael Torres as its senior vice president of business development and strategy. Release

> The CEO of GenKyoTex, Ursula Ney, resigned from her post, Elias Papatheodorou has been named acting CEO. Release

> Ken Harris stepped down as president of Cesca Therapeutics ($KOOL). Release

> EMD Serono appointed Dr. Joseph Leveque as its U.S. chief medical officer. Release

> Christopher Holland moved up at Nonin Medical to be the company's chief commercial officer. Release

> Georges Gemayel joined Enterome as its nonexecutive chairman. Release

> Corcept Therapeutics ($CORT) appointed Dr. Robert Fishman as its chief medical officer. Release

> Agendia brought on Mark Straley as its CEO. Release

> Keith Nolop will serve as an adviser to Nuevolution for preclinical and clinical drug development. Release

> Aeglea BioTherapeutics promoted Charles York to be its chief financial officer. Release

Pharma Manufacturing

> Synthetic Biologics ($SYN) appointed Raymond Stapleton as its senior vice president of manufacturing. Release

> Changzhen Wu joined BeiGene as its head of manufacturing operations. Release

> Andrew Hetherington joined Catalyst Biosciences as its vice president of manufacturing operations. Release

Diagnostics

> Myriad Genetics ($MYGN) brought on Jan Schluchter as its European chief commercial officer. Release

> PlaqueTec appointed Tim Brears as its new CEO. Release