Trophos (Marseille, France) has announced the appointment of Damian Marron (pictured) as CEO, replacing the retiring Antoine Béret. Marron previously held the position of executive vice president, corporate development at Nicox. Béret will retain a seat on the board of directors of Trophos. The company is currently performing three clinical studies with its novel lead drug candidate TRO19622: a phase 2a efficacy trial in painful diabetic neuropathy, which has recently completed recruitment; an exploratory phase 2a study in patients with NASH; and a phase 1b study in spinal muscular atrophy. “I am honored and excited to have been given the responsibility to lead Trophos in the next stage of its development,” says Marron. “I will be looking to use my experience to work with the Trophos management and its board to build further value and bring hope to patients with these serious and undertreated conditions.”

Privately held Itero Biopharmaceuticals (San Mateo, CA, USA) has said that as part of a joint venture with Biological E. Ltd. and a $21 million Series A venture financing, the following have been added to the company's board of directors: Srinivas Akkaraju and Rodney Ferguson, managing directors of Panorama Capital; Michael Ross, managing partner of SV Life Sciences and Bobba Venkatadri, general partner from VenturEast.

Gunther S. Stent, one of the luminaries of molecular biology, died on June 12 from a massive staphylococcus infection at the age of 84. Stent, who was an associate of Max Delbrück at the California Institute of Technology, worked in his early career on the genetics of T2 bacteriophage and bacterial metabolism, later turning to leech neurobiology. Through teaching at the University of California, Berkeley, and his textbooks, he inspired several generations of scientists.

Privately held EyeGate Pharma (Waltham, MA, USA) has named Amy Cohen vice president, clinical operations. She brings more than 20 years of clinical development and healthcare experience to EyeGate, most recently as director, clinical operations at Javelin Pharmaceuticals.

Francis Collins has announced that he will step down from his post as director of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI, Bethesda, MD, USA) on August 1 to focus on “writing projects and other professional opportunities.” Collins has been director of NHGRI, part of the National Institutes of Health, since April 1993 and led the Human Genome Project to its completion in 2003. He also guided a number of follow-up initiatives, such as the International HapMap Project, the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements, the Knockout Mouse Project, the Mammalian Gene Collection, the Cancer Genome Atlas, the Molecular Libraries Initiative and the Human Microbiome Project. Alan Guttmacher, deputy director of NHGRI, will be appointed acting director of the institute on Aug. 1.

Topigen Pharmaceuticals (Montreal) has appointed Jeremy Curnock Cook to its board of directors. Curnock Cook is executive chairman and founder of BioScience Managers Limited and previously created and led the bioscience unit for the investment bank Rothschild. He has served on more than 30 boards of directors in the life science sector, currently including Targeted Genetics, Inflazyme Pharmaceuticals, Osteologix, Biocompatibles International and Silence Therapeutics.

Nancy J. Hutson has been named to the board of directors of Cubist Pharmaceuticals (Lexington, MA, USA). Hutson has 27 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, retiring from Pfizer in 2006 as senior vice president, Pfizer global research and development and director of Pfizer's pharmaceutical R&D site in Groton, Connecticut. She also serves on the board of directors of Inspire Pharmaceuticals.

David R. King has joined $700-million-asset investment firm Quaker BioVentures (Philadelphia) as a venture partner focusing on merger-and-acquisition deals. King spent 26 years at law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius and was formerly a director at Cephalon. Recently he served as CEO or president of three biotechs that he guided to acquisitions (Principia Pharmaceutical, sold to Human Genome Sciences; Delsys Pharmaceutical, sold to Elan, and BioRexis, purchased last year by Pfizer).

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, MA, USA) has named Freda C. Lewis-Hall executive vice president, medicines development. She joins Vertex from Bristol-Myers Squibb where she served as senior vice president, US pharmaceuticals, medical affairs.

José María Fernández Sousa-Faro, chairman of the board of directors of Zeltia (Madrid), has been elected president of the Spanish Association of Bioenterprises (ASEBIO) by the members of its general assembly, replacing acting president Regina Revilla. Sousa-Faro was previously a senior lecturer in biochemistry at the University of Santiago de Compostela and has been chairman of the board at Zeltia since 1985. ASEBIO belongs to and receives support from EuropaBio, the European Association of Bioindustries.

Santaris Pharma (Horsholm, Denmark) has announced the appointment of Søren Tulstrup as president and CEO. He takes over as CEO from Keith McCullagh, who is retiring but will remain a member of the board of directors. Tulstrup previously served as vice president, global human health at Merck& Co.

Opexa Therapeutics (The Woodlands, TX, USA) has appointed Neil K. Warma as president and CEO. He had most recently served in the same capacity at Viron Therapeutics. Warma will also be a director nominee to the company's board of directors at the next annual shareholders' meeting.