Cleave Biosciences (Burlingame, CA, USA) has named Tim Smith (right) chief business officer, a newly created position. Smith has more than 15 years of experience in the life sciences industry, most recently as executive director, business development, at Celgene. He previously served as director, investor relations at MGI Pharma and covered the biotech sector for RBC Capital Markets, Lazard Capital Markets and Citi Research.

“Tim's deep business and biotechnology expertise, which includes leading significant licensing and M&A transactions, will be invaluable as we pursue our business and product development plans,” said Laura Shawver, CEO of Cleave Biosciences. “We look forward to leveraging his experience to identify and foster new strategic opportunities as we continue the clinical trials of CB-5083, our lead drug candidate, and develop additional first-in-class agents targeting the AAA ATPase family.”

Aimmune Therapeutics (Brisbane, CA, USA) has appointed Daniel C. Adelman chief medical officer. Adelman was most recently a member of the research advisory board of Food Allergy Research & Education, the world's largest private funder of food allergy research. He was formerly chief medical officer and senior vice president of development at Alvine Pharmaceuticals.

Jörn Aldag has been appointed CEO of immunotherapy developer Hookipa Biotech (Vienna). He replaces Katherine Cohen, who started the company in 2011 and led its development from early science to clinical stage. Aldag was most recently CEO of NASDAQ-listed gene therapy company uniQure. Previously, he served as president and CEO of Evotec.

Gene therapy developer Lysogene (Paris) has named Kimberley S. Gannon chief scientific officer. Gannon was most recently senior vice president of preclinical research and development at NeuroPhage Pharmaceuticals. She will be based in Lysogene's US office in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Laboratoris Sanifit (Palma de Mallorca, Spain) has announced the appointment of Preston S. Klassen as chief medical officer and the launch of its US subsidiary, Sanifit Inc., based in San Diego. Klassen, who will serve as president of the US subsidiary, brings 14 years of industry experience to the company. He was most recently executive vice president, head of global development at Orexigen Therapeutics and previously held several positions of increasing responsibility at Amgen, including therapeutic area head for nephrology.

Karen Krumeich has been appointed senior vice president and CFO of Soligenix (Princeton, NJ, USA). She has over 25 years of diverse experience in the financial and strategic management of emerging growth life sciences companies, most recently as a consultant providing finance, investor relations, and business development services to Soligenix and other healthcare companies. She was previously vice president and CFO for Cerecor and Mela Sciences.

Minoryx Therapeutics (Mataró, Spain) has named Uwe Meya as chief medical officer. Meya is a neurologist and psychiatrist with more than 30 years experience in pharma R&D. He joins Minoryx from Lupin Atlantis Holdings, where he was responsible for clinical strategy and implementation of studies with new clinical entities in various indications, including neurodegenerative disorders.

Nathalie Moll has been elected the new chair of the International Council of Biotech Associations (ICBA), the 28-member strong biotech industry umbrella group established two years ago to advocate for public policies that support the growth of the innovative biotech industry worldwide. Moll, the current secretary general of EuropaBio, was elected by the ICBA member associations for a two-year mandate together with vice chair Andrew Casey, president and CEO of BIOTECanada.

Thomas Perkins, one of the founding fathers of modern venture capital investing, died after a prolonged illness at his home in California on June 7. He was 84 years old. He worked at computer manufacturer Hewlett-Packard Co. in the early days of Silicon Valley before co-founding the venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) in 1972. The firm was instrumental in the birth of Genentech in 1976. Perkins held the role of chairman of Genentech from 1976 until 1990 when it merged with Roche Holding. To date, KPCB has invested in and helped build more than 110 life sciences companies.

ERS Genomics (Dublin) has announced the appointment of Eric Rhodes as CEO, succeeding founder Shaun Foy. Rhodes joins the company from Horizon Discovery, where he was senior vice president of R&D and chief technology officer. Foy will become chairman of the board of directors.

Privately held, clinical-stage Aprea (Stockholm) has named Christian S. Schade president and CEO. Schade, who will be based in the company's US office in Boston, has over 30 years of private and public pharma and biotech industry experience. He previously served as CEO of Novira Therapeutics, which was acquired in December 2015 by Johnson & Johnson in an all-cash transaction.

Neurotrope BioScience (Newark, NJ, USA) has announced the appointment of Paula T. Trzepacz as executive vice president and chief medical officer. Prior to joining the company, Trzepacz was at Eli Lilly and Company for over 15 years, where she was most recently a senior medical fellow in neurosciences drug development. She is currently a clinical professor of psychiatry at Indiana University School of Medicine.

James Warren (right) has joined Homology Medicines (Lexington, MA, USA) as vice president of manufacturing. He has more than 20 years of experience in the pharma and biotech industry, and joins Homology from bluebird bio, where he was responsible for vector development and manufacturing.