MorphoSys (Martinsried, Germany) has announced the appointment of Marlies Sproll as chief scientific officer and a member of its management board. She will lead the company's departments of research and development, and will be responsible for alliance management. Dr. Sproll joined MorphoSys in October 2000 as R&D department head, and was promoted to senior vice president, R&D in September 2004. She brings more than 15 years of experience in antibody research, target validation, and preclinical and clinical development of biologicals. Her previous positions include leading laboratories at Merck KGaA and Boehringer Ingelheim. “Marlies is an outstanding leader and has proven her suitability for the position by her accomplishments over the last few years, which have contributed substantially to the company's success,” says MorphoSys CEO Simon Moroney. “I am delighted to be able to welcome her to the management board of MorphoSys.”

Alta Partners (San Francisco) has announced that Robert Alexander has joined the firm as a principal. Mr. Alexander brings over a decade of life sciences investment, operations and research experience, first in Genentech's business development office and then as a principal in MPM Capital's BioEquities fund.

LUX Biotechnology (Edinburgh, UK) has announced that Jim Brown, exiting senior executive of GE Healthcare, is joining the company as chairman of the board of directors. By mutual agreement, former chairman Ian Sword is leaving LUX as it moves toward expanding its operations to encompass drug discovery, research tools, toxicity testing and diagnostics. Dr. Brown's 35-year career includes research and senior executive positions at Inveresk Research, Bioreliance, Mangenta Biotech and Amersham. He was most recently president of GE Healthcare. He is also a founding member of both BIO in the US and UK BioIndustry Association.

Nancy L. Buc has joined the board of directors of Dynavax Technologies (Berkeley, CA, USA). Buc is a partner in the Washington, DC, law firm Buc & Beardsley, and formerly served as chief counsel for the US Food and Drug Administration.

Rémi Delansorne has been named CEO and Daan Ellens has been named chairman of the board of Hybrigenics (Paris). The appointments follow the recent death of Bart Kwist, president and CEO. Dr. Delansorne joined Hybrigenics in 2004 and served most recently as vice president for R&D.

FibroGen (S. San Francisco, CA, USA) has named Russell H. Ellison as vice president of clinical development. Dr. Ellison was most recently vice president of medical affairs and chief medical officer at Sanofi-Synthelabo. Previously, he served as vice president of medical affairs and chief medical officer at Hoffmann La Roche in the US.

WellGen (New Brunswick, NJ, USA) has appointed Arthur H. Finnel as chief financial officer. Mr. Finnel was most recently executive vice president, treasurer and chief financial officer of Bionova Holding Corp.

Privately held Optimer Pharmaceuticals (San Diego, CA, USA) has appointed Sherwood L. Gorbach as chief medical officer and senior vice president of medical affairs. Dr. Gorbach joins Optimer from Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, where he was a professor of community health and medicine.

Sangamo BioSciences (Richmond, CA, USA) has named Philip Gregory vice president, research. Dr. Gregory joined Sangamo in December 2000, and has served as senior director, research since July 2003.

Jeffrey M. Johnston has been appointed to the position of vice president, clinical development and chief medical officer for Microbia (Cambridge, MA, USA). Dr. Johnston joins the company from Critical Therapeutics, where he was chief medical officer and vice president of drug development. Previously, he was vice president, clinical research at Triangle Pharmaceuticals.

Daniel S. Lynch has resigned his positions of CEO and director of ImClone Systems (New York), by mutual agreement with the company's board of directors. Philip Frost, currently executive vice president and chief scientific officer, will serve additionally as interim CEO while the board seeks a permanent replacement. Mr. Lynch had served as CEO since February 2004.

Metabolon (Research Triangle Park, NC, USA) has added Michael Milburn as chief scientific officer. Dr. Milburn has more than 15 years of experience in biotech and pharmaceutical companies, serving as senior vice president of research at Plexxikon, and most recently as senior vice president of research and corporate development at Sirtris Pharmaceuticals.

Following its acquisition of Chiron, Novartis (Zurich) plans to integrate the US company's pharmaceuticals business into its own pharmaceuticals division and create a fourth business unit from Chiron's vaccines and diagnostics divisions. Novartis currently has three divisions—pharmaceuticals, consumer health and its generics business Sandoz. The Swiss drugmaker has appointed Jörg Reinhardt to head the new vaccines and diagnostics division, with James Shannon, currently head of clinical development for Novartis, succeeding Dr. Reinhardt as of head of pharmaceuticals development.

Galapagos (Mechelen, Belgium) a genomics-based drug discovery company, has appointed David R. Smith as CFO, effective February 1, 2006. He joins Galapagos after spending eight years at AstraZeneca. Vicky Gwosdz, currently head of finance at Galapagos, will continue as controller upon Smith's arrival.

Venture capital firm BioMedinvest (Basel) has appointed Bert S.J. van Toor as a partner. Dr. van Toor adds significant expertise in the fields of bioscience and biopharmaceutical R&D, having worked at Bayer and Glycart Biotechnology. Most recently, he was a principal at Global Life Sciences Ventures.