VaxInnate (Cranbury, NJ, USA) has named Thomas Hofstaetter (near right) as president and CEO. Alan Shaw (far right), who previously held that position, has assumed the newly created role of CSO and becomes chairman of the board. Hofstaetter joined the company earlier this year as COO and member of the board after more than 30 years at research-based pharmaceutical companies. He previously served as senior vice president of corporate business development at Wyeth, where he also headed global business development for the company's pharmaceutical division. Shaw joined VaxInnate in 2005 from the vaccine division of Merck &Co., where he was executive director of the public policy, public health and medical affairs group.

“I am delighted to accept the challenge of taking VaxInnate and its paradigm-shifting vaccine technology platform to the next level,” Hofstaetter said. “I look forward to collaborating with Alan and the entire VaxInnate team to accomplish that.”

Pacific Biosciences (Menlo Park, CA, USA) has named Susan K. Barnes as CFO. Barnes has nearly 30 years experience in senior financial management. From 1997 to 2005, she was senior vice president, finance and CFO of Intuitive Surgical.

Craig W. Carlson has joined Hana Biosciences (S. San Francisco, CA, USA) as CFO. He has held senior leadership and financial management positions for the past 25 years, most recently as CFO and COO for 20 Cent Ventures. From 2006 to 2008, he served as CFO of Neurobiological Technologies.

Compugen (Tel Aviv) has announced the appointments of Anat Cohen-Dayag as president and CEO and Martin Gerstel as chairman. Cohen-Dayag and Gerstel previously served as co-CEOs of the company. Cohen-Dayag joined Compugen in 2002 and held the positions of director of diagnostics, vice president for diagnostic biomarkers and drug targets, and vice president of R&D. Gerstel joined Compugen in 1997 as chairman of the board, and served in that role until January of last year when he was appointed president and CEO, and then co-CEO in June. Dov Hershberg, who served as chairman of Compugen during 2009, will remain a director of the company.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (Jerusalem) has announced the appointment of Phillip Frost to serve as chairman of the company's board of directors, after the resignation of Eli Hurvitz to recover from illness. Frost previously served as vice chairman since 2006, after Teva's acquisition of Ivax, where he served as chairman and CEO. Moshe Many, who had been serving as interim chairman of Teva, has been appointed vice chairman of the board of directors.

Charles Homcy has announced his retirement as president and CEO of Portola Pharmaceuticals (S. San Francisco, CA, USA) to take on the role of co-chairman of the board of directors. He has served as president and CEO since he co-founded the company in 2003. COO William Lis will succeed Homcy as the new CEO and Hollings C. Renton has been appointed co-chairman and lead director of the board of directors. Renton previously served as president and CEO, director and chairman of the board of Onyx Pharmaceuticals.

Nicholas A. LaBella Jr. has joined Insmed (Richmond, VA, USA) as CSO. LaBella has held a number of senior-level positions in drug development and regulatory affairs at Watson Laboratories and the former Sandoz Research Institute.

OXiGENE (S. San Francisco, CA, USA) has announced the resignation of Arthur B. Laffer from its board of directors to pursue other longstanding interests. Laffer has served on the OXiGENE board since 1998 and had served as chair of the audit committee, the chair of the compensation committee and a member of the nominating and governance committee.

Rib-X Pharma-ceuticals (New Haven, CT, USA) has announced the appointment of Mark Leuchtenberger (right) as president, CEO and a member of the board of directors. He joins the company from Targanta Therapeutics, where he served as president and CEO. His predecessor as CEO, Susan Froshauer, has been appointed to the newly created role of CSO at Rib-X.

Prosensa (Leiden, The Netherlands) has announced the appointment of Berndt Modig (right) as CFO. He brings more than 20 years of experience in company finance to Prosensa, most recently serving as CFO of Jerini.

Adeona Pharmaceuticals (Ann Arbor, MI, USA) has named Jeff Lucero Riley as a member of its board of directors. Riley has more than 19 years of experience in the biotech and pharma industries. He is currently managing director of Black Crow Ventures and has held senior corporate and commercial development positions at Amphora Discovery, Ontogen and AvMax.

Cytokinetics (S. San Francisco, CA, USA) has announced the resignation of co-founder and former CEO James H. Sabry from its board of directors; Sabry is taking an operational role at a pharmaceutical company. Sabry, who had been serving as chairman of the board, will remain a consultant to the company. L. Patrick Gage, formerly president of Wyeth Research and a Cytokinetics board member since 2009, has been named to succeed Sabry as chairman.