ElexoPharm (Saarbruecken, Germany) has announced the appointment of Chris J. van Koppen (right) as head of research to lead the company's preclinical drug discovery projects and build further alliances with larger pharma companies. Before joining ElexoPharm, he served as leader of four lead optimization projects at Merck Sharp & Dohme.

William D. “Chip” Baird III has been appointed CFO of Amicus Therapeutics (Cranbury, NJ, USA). Baird brings over 15 years of experience in finance and strategic planning, most recently at PTC Therapeutics, where he served in the same capacity for the past seven years.

Christopher L. Burnley has been appointed chief business officer of EnVivo Pharmaceuticals (Watertown, MA, USA). He brings 25 years of broad industry experience, having founded and served as CEO of VetRx. Before that, he served as executive vice president and chief business officer and then executive vice president and COO of Phenomix.

TapImmune (Seattle) has announced the appointment of Robert Florkiewicz as senior director of molecular biology and virology. Florkiewicz most recently conducted research on human embryonic stem cell–based therapies at the University of Washington. Previously, he was the director of cellular and molecular biology and co-founder of Ciblex, a spin-out from his laboratory at the Scripps Institute.

Compugen (Tel Aviv, Israel) has named Mary Haak-Frendscho as executive chairperson of its new S. San Francisco, California, office. Haak-Frendscho was most recently with Takeda Pharmaceutical. Additionally, John Hunter, previously a senior director at Xoma, has been appointed Compugen's new vice president of antibody R&D.

Michael Kaleko has joined Synthetic Biologics (Ann Arbor, MI, USA) as scientific director. From 1999 until 2002, he co-directed research at Genetic Therapy. In 2002, he co-founded Advanced Vision Therapies, serving as CSO until 2010.

Rainer Kramer has been named chief business officer of immatics biotechnologies (Tuebingen, Germany), a newly created role. Kramer joins immatics from Signature Diagnostics, where he served in the same position. Before that, he was vice president of business development at Jerini.

Syndax Pharmaceuticals (Waltham, MA, USA) has announced the appointments of Arlene M. Morris as CEO and Joanna Horobin as president. Morris previously served as president and CEO at Affymax and president and CEO of Clearview Projects.

Raymond Pratt has been named chief medical officer of Rockwell Medical (Wixom, MI, USA). He previously served as vice president R&D and the scientific leader in the emerging business unit and renal business unit at Shire Pharmaceutical Development from 2003–2010.

The newly opened UK Biobank (Stockport, UK) has appointed Sir Michael Rawlins as chairman. Rawlins, who has also served as chairman of the UK's National Institute of Health & Clinical Excellence (NICE) since its formation in 1999, succeeds Sir Alan Langlands.

The board of directors of Lonza (Basel) has elected Richard Ridinger as the company's new CEO. Ridinger has held numerous leadership functions at Henkel for 14 years and Cognis for 11 years. Most recently, he was responsible for Care Chemicals, the largest sector at Cognis with approximately 3,000 employees. Following the takeover of Cognis by BASF at the end of 2010, he supported the integration of the company.

Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical (Novato, CA, USA) has announced the appointment of Shalini Sharp as CFO and senior vice president, finance. She joins Ultragenyx from Agenus (Lexington, MA, USA), where she served as vice president and CFO since 2006. Last month she stepped down as CFO and was elected to the company's board of directors. Succeeding Sharp as Agenus' CFO is Christine Klaskin, formerly the company's vice president of finance.

DNA2.0 (Menlo Park, CA, USA) has named Howard A. Simon COO and general counsel. He joins the company from InterMune, where he was senior vice president, human resources and corporate services, associate general counsel, and chief compliance officer from 2004 to 2012.

VIVUS (Mountain View, CA, USA) has made several appointments in anticipation of the approval and commercialization of Qnexa. Joining the company are Chris Thompson as national sales director, Alfred Tenuto as senior director of market access, Santosh T. Varghese as vice president of medical affairs and Roman V. Dvorak as senior director, clinical development. Promotions include Barbara Troupin as vice president, scientific communication and risk management and Timothy E. Morris as senior vice president, global corporate development and finance while he continues in his role as CFO.

Ben-Zion Weiner has been named as director of the board of directors of XTL Biopharmaceuticals (Herzliya, Israel). He brings to XTL his vast experience in pharmaceutical development gained from a 36-year career at Teva Pharmaceutical. He currently serves as special advisor to the CEO at Teva.

Iroko Pharmaceuticals (Philadelphia) has announced the additions of Clarence L. Young as chief medical officer and Moji James as general counsel and vice president. Young brings 25 years of extensive drug development and research experience, most recently as vice president, targeted therapies and integrated hospital care at Novartis. James brings two decades of experience to Iroko, most recently as global product counsel at Pfizer.