Achillion Pharmaceuticals (New Haven, CT, USA) has announced the appointment of David Apelian (right) as executive vice president and chief medical officer. He joins the company with over 13 years of industry experience, most recently serving as clinical director in the infectious diseases group at Bristol-Myers Squibb.

“We are delighted that David is bringing his wealth of hepatitis and drug development expertise to Achillion,” says president and CEO Michael D. Kishbauch. “His operational and regulatory experience, highlighted by the regulatory approval of antivirals such as interferon alpha-2b/ribavirin and entecavir, will greatly benefit Achillion as we accelerate our development plans and seek to initiate registrational studies with sovaprevir and ACH-3102 during the latter part of next year.” In addition, Achillion has also expanded its clinical operations group with the recent addition of Kevin Kucharski, formerly head of clinical operations at Pharmasset, who will serve as senior vice president of clinical operations.

James O. Armitage has been elected to the board of directors of TESARO (Waltham, MA, USA). He is currently the Joe Shapiro Chair for the Study of Oncology and Clinical Research at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha and past president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Galena Biopharma (Lake Oswego, OR, USA) has announced the addition of William L. Ashton to its board of directors. Ashton has over 28 years of biotech and pharma management experience, most recently at Amgen, where he was vice president of corporate and government affairs and vice president of sales.

Trade group BioFlorida (W. Palm Beach, FL, USA) has named Nancy Bryan president and CEO. Bryan has held management positions in top-tier and specialty biotech and pharma companies including senior vice president of commercial operations at NPS Pharmaceuticals, senior vice president of marketing and sales for Indevus Pharmaceuticals, and head of commercial operations at Elan Pharmaceuticals for the global autoimmune franchise.

VIVUS (Mountain View, CA, USA) has named J. Martin Carroll, Jorge Plutzky and Robert N. Wilson to its board of directors. Carroll has more than 35 years of experience in the pharma industry, having served as head, global strategy and development and president and CEO, US at Boehringer Ingelheim. Plutzky currently serves as director of the vascular disease prevention program at Brigham and Women's Hospital. Wilson is chairman of Mevion Medical Systems and former vice chairman of the board of Johnson & Johnson.

Illumina (San Diego) has appointed Charles Dadswell as senior vice president and general counsel, succeeding the retiring Christian Cabou. Dadswell joins Illumina with more than 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry, most recently serving as vice president, general counsel for North and Latin America and corporate director of global intellectual property at bioMérieux.

David Green, president and a member of the board since 1996, has been named interim CEO of Harvard Bioscience (Holliston, MA, USA) following the retirement and resignation of Chane Graziano after 17 years as CEO and 49 years in the industry. The company's board of directors has commenced a search to hire a new CEO.

Endocyte (W. Lafayette, IN, USA) has announced the appointment of Scot L. Harper as vice president of clinical operations. He brings more than 25 years of clinical operations experience, most recently serving as global portfolio director for oncology at PAREXEL International.

Iwona Kelley has been appointed chief business officer of Hurel (North Brunswick, NJ, USA). She joins the company from EMD Millipore, where she served as biosciences division district manager.

Rachel King has been named board chairwoman of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (Washington), the first woman elected to that post in the group's history. Currently president and CEO of GlycoMimetics, King succeeds H. Thomas Watkins, former CEO of Human Genome Sciences, as BIO chair.

Sigma-Tau Pharmaceuticals (Gaithersburg, MD, USA) has announced the promotion of Dave Lemus as CEO. Lemus had served as COO since March 2012, and joined the company as vice president of finance in July 2011.

Afraxis (San Diego) has announced the appointment of Carmine Stengone (right) as the company's president and CEO. He previously served as vice president of corporate development for Afraxis Holdings, from which he helped establish Afraxis as a spin-out. Prior to joining Afraxis, he was senior director of business development at Phenomix. In addition to his role as CEO of Afraxis, Stengone also serves as chief business officer for Avelas Biosciences. In addition, Afraxis has also named Christopher Rex (right) CSO. Previously, he was a principal investigator and director of R&D strategy for Afraxis Holdings.

Anne M. VanLent has been elected to the board of directors of Aegerion Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, MA, USA). Previously, she was executive vice president and CFO of Barrier Therapeutics, before leaving to establish her own advisory firm, AMV Advisors, in 2008.

Connie Wierman has been named vice president of biopharmaceutical development for Theorem Clinical Research (King of Prussia, PA, USA). She was most recently vice president of clinical development in oncology for INC Research.