Advanced Cell Technology (Alameda, CA, USA) has announced that CEO William M. Caldwell IV (left) has been appointed to serve as the chairman of the board. Mr. Caldwell assumes the role of chairman from Michael D. West, who will focus on ACT's embryonic stem cell and regenerative medicine R&D programs in his role as president, CSO and director.

“I want to thank Dr. West for his leadership at Advanced Cell Technology during his service as chairman of the board. We are all grateful for his current and continuing contributions,” says Mr. Caldwell. “My role as CEO with ACT's business and scientific teams has been extremely rewarding, and I welcome the board's support in their decision to expand my duties to the position of chairman.”

Joseph L. Baker has joined Alexza Pharmaceuticals (Palo Alto, CA, USA) as vice president, commercial manufacturing and global supply chain, with primary responsibility for the development of Alexza's commercial manufacturing processes and scale-up of its pilot manufacturing center. Mr. Baker was most recently general manager for Watson Laboratories.

Alan B. Colowick has been elected to the board of directors of Naryx Pharma (Santa Barbara, CA, USA). Dr. Colowick was recently appointed Geron's president for oncology, and he previously served as chief medical officer of Threshold Pharmaceuticals.

Nanogen (San Diego) has named Heiner Dreismann to its board of directors. Dr. Dreismann has more than 20 years of experience in the biotech and healthcare industry. He was formerly president and CEO of Roche Molecular Systems, and currently serves as CEO of FasTraQ.

Wyche Fowler, Jr. has been appointed to the board of directors of Keryx Biopharmaceuticals (New York). Mr. Fowler is a former US Congressman from Georgia, serving in the House of Representatives from 1977 to 1986 and the Senate from 1987 to 1993. He also served as the US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 1996 to 2001. Keryx has also announced that Lindsay A. Rosenwald has stepped down from the company's board of directors to devote more time to other professional and personal endeavors.

Napo Pharmaceuticals (S. San Francisco, CA, USA) has named M. Scott Harris vice president, clinical affairs and chief medical officer. Dr. Harris is a principal at Middleburg Consultants and a professor of clinical medicine and director of the Center for Inflammatory Bowel Disease at Georgetown University Hospital.

Leroy Hood has joined the scientific advisory board of Cellumen (Pittsburgh), a cellular systems biology company. Recognized as one of the world's leading scientists in molecular biotech and genomics, Dr. Hood is the founder and president of the Seattle-based Institute for Systems Biology.

Medarex (Princeton, NJ, USA) has announced that chairman of the board of directors Irwin Lerner has taken on the additional positions of interim president and CEO. Mr. Lerner was formerly chairman, president and CEO of Hoffmann-La Roche. Medarex's board is seeking a permanent CEO after the resignations of Donald L. Drakeman as president, CEO and member of the board, and Michael A. Appelbaum, the company's CFO from 1991 to 2000 and currently a director. The actions came on the heels of an internal investigation regarding the granting of backdated stock options to Medarex executives. The probe found no “fraud or willful misconduct” on the part of management, but the resignations were seen as “the best way for Medarex to put those issues behind it,” according to a company statement. Medarex still faces a Securities and Exchange Commission inquiry from May 2006, a grand jury subpoena from the US Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey and at least one shareholder lawsuit relating to the charges.

R. Eric McAllister has been appointed vice president, clinical development and chief medical officer at PolyMedix (Philadelphia). Dr. McAllister has over 25 years of experience developing drugs in a variety of therapeutic areas, most recently serving as senior vice president of clinical development at CombinatoRx.

KAI Pharmaceuticals (S. San Francisco, CA, USA) has named Dirk B. Mendel to the position of vice president of pharmacology & preclinical pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. Dr. Mendel most recently led Chiron's pharmacology team, and previously served as senior director, oncology, preclinical research and exploratory development at Sugen.

Symphogen (Copenhagen) has named Christian Meyer vice president of clinical development. Dr. Meyer was previously director of clinical development at Zymenex, and international medical officer at Novo Nordisk.

Eksigent (Dublin, CA, USA) has named Terry Salyer vice president, sales and service, a newly created position. She joins the company from Molecular Devices, where she was director of sales for three divisions.

ViroPharma (Exton, PA, USA) has announced today that Daniel B. Soland has joined the company as vice president and chief commercial officer. Mr. Soland was most recently president of Chiron Vaccines.

Privately held Ilypsa (Santa Clara, CA, USA) has announced the appointment of William D. Waddill as CFO. Mr. Waddill brings more than 15 years of experience managing the funding and finances of venture-backed and more mature life science companies, most recently serving as the principal of Square One Finance. He was previously senior director of finance at Exelixis and CFO of venture capital firm Medical Science Partners.

Eli Zangvil has been named vice president, business development at Compugen (Tel Aviv). He joins the company from UltraShape, where he served as chief operating officer. Previously, Dr. Zangvil was head of medical services of the Israeli Defense Force's Central Command.