Anders Lundström (below, right) has been appointed CEO of Orexo (Uppsala, Sweden), succeeding Torbjörn Bjerke. Lundström joins the company from Biogen Idec, where he was most recently head of that company's hemophilia unit. He previously served as head of Biogen Idec's international commercial operations, responsible for worldwide sales and marketing.

“Orexo has been successful in developing commercially attractive products. This was most recently demonstrated by the US approval of Abstral (fentanyl). Orexo also has significant partnerships with Boehringer Ingelheim, Ortho-McNeil Janssen and Janssen Pharmaceutica, and Novartis. I am looking forward to leading the company through its next stage, in building a competitive product portfolio that we can commercialize on our own in Europe or the US,” says Lundström.

Cephalon (Frazer, PA, USA) has announced the passing of company cofounder, chairman and CEO Frank Baldino, Jr., from leukemia on December 16, 2010. Baldino was a biotech industry pioneer who helped found Cephalon in 1987. He had been on a leave of absence for medical reasons since August 2010. To succeed him, Cephalon's board of directors has appointed J. Kevin Buchi as CEO and a member of the company's board. The board will address the role of company chairman in the future. Buchi, who has been with Cephalon for almost 20 years, assumed day-to-day chief executive responsibilities for the company in August while serving as COO and CFO.

ShangPharma (Shanghai) has named William Dai as CFO. Kevin Penghui Chen, ShangPharma's CFO and COO, will become president and COO. Dai previously served as CFO of China Nepstar Chain Drugstore, and CFO and vice chair of the executive committee at MicroPort Medical Co.

Genelux (San Diego) has appointed Jodi Devlin president, succeeding company founder Aladar Szalay, who will continue to serve as CEO and chairman of the board. Most recently, Devlin served as vice president at Abbott Laboratories, where she led global pipeline marketing for all therapeutic areas.

Wendy L. Dixon has been elected to Alkermes' (Waltham, MA, USA) board of directors. She has more than 30 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, most recently serving as chief marketing officer and president of global marketing for Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Cardioxyl Pharmaceuticals (Chapel Hill, NC, USA) has announced the appointment of James Gilbert as chief medical officer. Gilbert served most recently in the same capacity at Archemix, and was previously vice president of clinical development, cardiovascular/inflammation at Millennium Pharmaceuticals.

Young T. Kwon has been appointed vice president of business development at Momenta Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, MA, USA). He was most recently senior director, business development at Biogen Idec, and before that, he identified and invested in early-stage life science companies at Advanced Technology Ventures.

Optimer Pharmaceuticals (San Diego) has appointed Hank McKinnell to its board of directors. Formerly chairman and CEO of Pfizer, McKinnell is currently chairman of the Accordia Global Health Foundation, an organization dedicated to fighting infectious diseases in Africa, and is a member of the boards of Moody's, Angiotech Pharmaceutical and Emmaus Medical.

Affymax (Palo Alto, CA, USA) president John Orwin has been selected to succeed Arlene Morris as CEO and a member of the board of directors. Morris will remain a consultant to Affymax until September 2011.

Dale Pfost has joined venture capital firm Advent Venture Partners (London) as a partner. Pfost has more than 25 years of experience as a life science entrepreneur and CEO, including serving as founding CEO and chairman of Orchid BioSciences, founding CEO and chairman of Acuity Pharmaceuticals, cofounder and CEO of Oxford GlycoSciences and CEO of Receptor BioLogix.

AiCuris (Wuppertal, Germany) has named Marie-Paule Richard chief medical officer. She has over 24 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, including stints as vice president of clinical development at Sanofi Pasteur France and senior director for anti-infectives at GlaxoSmithKline in the UK.

Crescendo Biologics (Cambridge, UK) has named Mike Romanos as CEO. Romanos has been CSO of the company since May 2009, after spending the last ten years holding senior global positions leading major parts of GlaxoSmithKline's discovery unit.

Mark Strobeck has been appointed vice president and chief business officer of Topaz Pharmaceuticals (Horsham, PA, USA). Most recently, he served as chief business officer of Trevena.

Thomas Taapken has been appointed CFO of Epigenomics (Berlin) effective April 1, 2011, succeeding Oliver Schacht. Taapken joins the company from Biotie Therapies, where he has served as CFO since 2008. Previously he was an investment partner at DVC Deutsche Venture Capital and Burrill & Company.

Trius Therapeutics (San Diego) has named J. Craig Thompson (right) to the newly created role of chief commercial officer. Thompson has more than 18 years of pharma marketing and sales experience. Before joining Trius, he was vice president of marketing for Pfizer's specialty care business unit.

ImmunoGen (Waltham, MA, USA) has named Theresa G. Wingrove as vice president of regulatory affairs. Wingrove joins ImmunoGen with over 20 years of regulatory and clinical management experience in the healthcare industry. She was most recently vice president of regulatory and clinical affairs at Histogenics.