Cardium Therapeutics (San Diego, CA, USA), a wholly owned subsidiary of Aries Ventures, has announced the appointment of Robert L. Engler as chief medical advisor. Dr. Engler was cofounder of Collateral Therapeutics, and served as a director from 1995 to 2000 and as vice president, medical director from 1995 through 1998. He was a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Diego, associate chief of staff for R&D at the Veterans' Affairs Medical Center, and a faculty member of the Institute for Biomedical Engineering at UCSD until he retired from UCSD and the VA Hospital in 2001, to continue his work in the development of innovative agents for cardiovascular therapy. He is currently professor of medicine emeritus at UCSD.
Cardium also announced the appointment of Jennifer A. Spinella as vice president, regulatory affairs. Ms. Spinella formerly held the position of director of regulatory affairs at Biogen Idec and Idun Pharmaceuticals.
Neurocrine Biosciences (San Diego, CA, USA) has appointed Adrian Adams to the company's board of directors. Mr. Adams is president and CEO of Kos Pharmaceuticals, and has previously spent over 30 years in senior management positions at pharmaceutical companies such as Novartis, SmithKline Beecham and ICI Pharmaceuticals (Astra Zeneca).
Auxilium Pharmaceuticals (Malvern, PA, USA) has announced the elections of Al Altomari and Oliver Fetzer to its board of directors. Mr. Altomari is chief commercial officer at Barrier Therapeutics; he will also serve on Auxilium's audit and compliance committee. Dr. Fetzer is senior vice president, corporate development and R&D at Cubist Pharmaceuticals.
Linda Buck, recipient of a Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in 2004 for her discoveries on the workings of the olfactory system, has joined the board of directors of deCODE Genetics (Reykjavik, Iceland). Dr. Buck is associate director of the basic sciences division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and an affiliate professor of physiology and biophysics at the University of Washington.
Tanox (Houston, TX, USA) has announced that effective February 1, 2006, Nancy Chang, cofounder, president and CEO, will assume the role of chairman of the company's board of directors. She replaces Osama Mikhail, who will assume the position of lead director. Succeeding Chang as president and CEO will be Danong Chen, currently vice president of strategy and corporate development at Tanox. In addition, Edward Hu has been promoted from vice president of financial planning, project and portfolio management to senior vice president and COO.
Biota Holdings (Melbourne, Australia) has appointed Peter Cook as CEO and managing director. Mr. Cook previously served as president of Protective Products, a subsidiary of Ansell Australia, and was a board member of Ansell International from 1991 to 1999. He succeeds Biota's US-based chief executive, Peter Molloy, who stepped down after the company, developer of the influenza drug Relenza, consolidated its operations back in Australia.
Conforma Therapeutics (San Diego, CA, USA) has named Thomas M. Estok to the newly created position of chief commercial officer. Mr. Estok joins the company from Schering-Plough, where he was most recently vice president, US marketing and commercial development within the oncology franchise.
Margaret (Peg) Horn has been appointed senior vice president and general counsel at Kosan Biosciences (Hayward, CA, USA). Ms. Horn was most recently general counsel and secretary at Genencor. Kosan also announced that Susan M. Kanaya, senior vice president, finance and CFO, is leaving the company effective January 2006 to pursue another opportunity.
VioQuest Parmaceuticals (Monmouth Junction, NJ, USA) has elected Johnson Y.N. Lau, to its board of directors. Dr. Lau currently serves as the executive chairman of Kinex Pharmaceuticals, managing director of Roth Capital and as a member of the board of Chelsea Therapeutics International.
Vicki Loise has been selected as the first executive director of the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM; Northbrook, IL, USA). Before joining AUTM as administrative director in April 2005, Ms. Loise was development director for the National Parent Teachers Association.
David Newble has been appointed CFO for The Automation Partnership (TAP; Hertfordshire, UK), a leading maker of automated equipment for the life sciences. Mr. Newble previously spent eight years with BTG, as finance director and general manager for its US subsidiary, and most recently as group finance director.
William H. Rastetter has announced his retirement as executive chairman of Biogen Idec (Cambridge, MA, USA). Bruce Ross, presently chairman of the company's compensation committee, will become nonexecutive chairman of the board of directors. Mr. Ross is currently president of Cancer Rx, a healthcare consulting firm, and was previously CEO of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, an association of 19 of the largest cancer centers in the United States. He spent 27 years at Bristol-Myers Squibb, and began serving as a director of IDEC in 1997.
In conjunction with the reorganization of the company announced in November 2005, Inex Pharmaceuticals (Vancouver, Canada) has announced the promotion of Timothy M. Ruane from president and COO to president and CEO. Mr. Ruane joined Inex in December 2004 as senior vice president, corporate development. Inex's proposed reorganization would include spinning off its targeted immunotherapy technology and product candidates into a new company.
