Millennium Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, MA, USA) has announced its new president and CEO: Deborah Dunsire (left), most recently head of Novartis Pharmaceuticals' North American oncology operations. Dr. Dunsire also joins Millennium's board of directors. She succeeds Mark Levin, cofounder and CEO since the company's inception. In addition, Kenneth Weg, a member of the board of directors since 2001, will become the new nonexecutive chairman. Mr. Levin will remain an active member of the board.

Dr. Dunsire began her career in 1989 as a clinical researcher with Sandoz in her native South Africa and transferred to Basel in 1991. In 1997, she formed and headed the oncology business unit at Novartis. Commenting on Dr. Dunsire, Mr. Weg said, “Her depth of experience and proven leadership in the pharmaceutical industry and repeated success in commercializing products will enable Millennium to optimize the potential of its novel therapies and capitalize on the company's strengths in innovative drug discovery and development.

NicOx (Sophia Antipolis, France) has named Maarten Beekman as vice president of clinical development and Stefano Biondi as director of its research laboratories. In addition, Ennio Ongini has been promoted to vice president of research. Dr. Beekman's previous positions include vice president, France for i3 Research and vice president, global clinical development at Orion Pharma. Dr. Biondi was most recently director of chemistry and Pharmacy at Neuro3d.

Novacea (S. San Francisco, CA, USA) has named Fong Wang Clow as senior vice president of development and Charles J. Democko as vice president of regulatory affairs. The company also announced the promotion of Paul Westberg to vice president of business development. Prior to joining Novacea, Dr. Wang Clow served as an independent consultant. She was previously project team leader and senior director of clinical affairs at Theravance. Mr. Democko served most recently as vice president of development at PharmacoFore, and before that as vice president of regulatory affairs at Connetics.

Q Chip (Cardiff, UK) has announced the appointment of Jeremy Curnock Cook as a nonexecutive director. Founder and currently executive chairman of Bioscience Managers, Mr. Curnock Cook previously created and led the Rothschild bioscience unit, which managed several funds aimed at early and mid-stage biotech companies. He currently serves on the boards of Inflazyme Pharmaceuticals and Sirna Therapeutics, and is chairman of the board at Targeted Genetics and Atugen.

Spectranetics (Colorado Springs, CO, USA) has announced the appointment of Kelly W. Elliott as vice president of clinical affairs. Ms. Elliott was most recently senior director, clinical applications research and training development at Stereotaxis.

Elizabeth Ferguson-Brown has been promoted to CEO of Spectrum Chemicals and Laboratory Products (Gardena, CA, USA). She joined Spectrum in 1988 and most recently served as the company's president.

Sirna Therapeutics (San Francisco, CA, USA) has appointed J. Michael French as senior vice president for corporate development. Mr. French was most recently chief business officer at Entelos.

Stephen Grant has joined Celladon (La Jolla, CA, USA) as chief medical officer. Dr. Grant was most recently a medical officer and team leader in the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), Office of Cellular, Tissue and Gene Therapy at the US Food and Drug Administration.

Barry A. Labinger has been named executive vice president and chief commercial officer of Human Genome Sciences (Rockville, MD, USA). Mr. Labinger was most recently vice president of 3M Pharmaceuticals, a global division of 3M Company. From 2000 to 2002, he was senior vice president and general manager, commercial operations at Immunex.

Richard Messmann has been appointed vice president, clinical affairs at Endocyte (W. Lafayette, IN, USA). Dr. Messmann served most recently as director of cancer research for the Great Lakes Cancer Institute, a joint collaboration between Michigan State University and McLaren Health Care.

Interleukin Genetics (Waltham, MA, USA) has named Ramon W. Mohanlal to the post of chief medical officer. Dr. Mohanlal has spent the past three years as a medical director at Vertex Pharmaceuticals.

Cephalon (Frazer, PA, USA) has named Jeff Myers to the position of vice president, government affairs, based in Washington, DC. Mr. Myers most recently served as director of government relations for Biogen Idec, and before that as legislative assistant and legislative director for several members of the US House of Representatives.

Symphogen (Copenhagen, Denmark) has named Paul Rohricht as vice president of business development. He joins the company from Revivicor, where he was cofounder and vice president of corporate development. Prior to Revivicor, Mr. Rohricht held the role of vice president of business development at PPL Therapeutics.

Alan Shaw, president and CEO of privately held Codexis (Redwood City, CA, USA), has been appointed to chair the Biotechnology Industry Organization's (BIO) new section on industrial and environmental biotechnology.

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, MA, USA) has appointed James L. Vincent as a director of the company. Mr. Vincent was chairman and CEO of Biogen (now Biogen Idec) from 1985 to 2002. He currently serves on the board of trustees for Duke University.