Regenacy Pharmaceuticals (Boston) has named Simon S. Jones (right) president and CEO succeeding Walter Ogier, who will remain a member of the company's board of directors. Jones has served as COO and senior vice president, preclinical development of Regenacy since the company was spun out from Acetylon Pharmaceuticals in December 2016. He previously served as senior vice president of biology and preclinical development at Acetylon.

“Simon's extensive research and drug development experience will continue to drive our ongoing efforts to develop selective HDAC inhibitors for the treatment of peripheral neuropathies, ciliopathic/polycystic diseases, hemoglobinopathies, cognitive disorders and oncology indications,” said Marc Cohen, co-founder and chairman of Regenacy. “We are very pleased to welcome Simon into his new role as president and CEO.”

Raffi Asadorian has joined specialty pharmaceutical company AcelRx Pharmaceuticals (Redwood City, CA, USA) as CFO. He brings over 25 years of finance, strategy and corporate development experience, most recently as CFO at Amyris.

Allergan (Dublin) has named Joseph H. Boccuzi to its board of directors. Boccuzi recently retired as a partner in the global life sciences, board and CEO practices at global executive search and leadership consulting firm Spencer Stuart.

Medical dermatology therapy developer Dermavant Sciences (Basel, Switzerland) has named Jacqualyn “Jackie” Fouse executive chairman. Fouse previously served as president and COO of Celgene until April 2017, and as a member of Celgene's board of directors through June 2017. She joined Celgene in 2010 as CFO.

Context Therapeutics (Philadelphia) has announced that Erard Gilles has joined the company as chief medical officer. Gilles was most recently founder and chief medical officer of Invivis Pharmaceuticals.

Steven B. Kanner has joined Caribou Biosciences (Berkeley, CA, USA) as CSO. Kanner brings to Caribou more than 25 years of experience in drug discovery and development, most recently as vice president of discovery biology at Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals. Previous positions include research leadership roles at Bristol-Myers Squibb, Astex Pharmaceuticals and Agensys/Astellas Pharma.

Mental health treatment developer Medibio (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia) has announced the appointment of Patrick J. Kennedy to its board of directors. Kennedy is a former member of the US House of Representatives (D-RI) and a leading political voice on mental illness, addiction and other brain diseases. He was a chief sponsor of one of the major pieces of legislation of 2008, the Mental Health Parity Act, a bill requiring most group health plans to provide coverage for the treatment of mental illnesses.

Nabriva Therapeutics (Dublin) has named Francesco Maria Lavino chief commercial officer. He joins from Merck & Co., bringing nearly two decades of pharma sales and marketing experience. In addition, Nabriva has announced the appointment of CEO Colin Broom and Carrie Bourdow, senior vice president and chief commercial officer of Trevena, to its board of directors.

Kelly Londy has been appointed CEO and a member of the board of directors of Lumicell (Wellesley, MA, USA). The company's founder, W. David Lee, has moved into the role of president and CSO. Londy was most recently COO at Accuray.

Next-generation immunotherapy developer Adicet Bio (Menlo Park, CA, USA) has appointed Jesse McGreivy chief medical officer. McGreivy brings extensive industry experience in the successful development of novel cancer therapeutics, having served as chief medical officer at Acerta Pharma and Pharmacyclics.

Trevi Therapeutics (New Haven, CT, USA), in conjunction with a recently completed $50.5-million series C financing, has named David Meeker, former CEO of Sanofi/Genzyme, as chairman of the board of directors.

BlueRock Therapeutics (Cambridge, MA, USA) has announced the appointments of Emile Nuwaysir as president and CEO, Robert Deans as CTO, and Eric Soller as vice president of corporate development and strategy. Nuwaysir has over 15 years of life science management experience, previously serving as president and COO of Cellular Dynamics International and president of Opsis Therapeutics. He also serves as vice chairman of antibody discovery company Invenra. Deans previously served as CSO of Rubius Therapeutics. Soller led the launch of BlueRock as an entrepreneur-in-residence at Versant Ventures.

Daniel J. O'Connor has announced his resignation as president, CEO and board member of Advaxis (Princeton, NJ, USA). Anthony (Tony) Lombardo will immediately assume the role of interim CEO until a permanent leader is selected.

Akili Interactive Labs (Boston) has named Robert J. Perez as executive chairman. Perez previously served as vice president of Biogen's CNS business unit and CEO of Cubist Pharmaceuticals. He has been a commercial advisor with Akili for the past year.

Sucampo Pharmaceuticals (Rockville, MD, USA) has announced the appointment of Karen Smith to its board of directors. Smith is executive vice president, R&D, and chief medical officer at Jazz Pharmaceuticals.

Melissa Yeager has been appointed chief regulatory officer of Breath Therapeutics (Munich), a newly created position. She was most recently an independent regulatory consultant, and previously held executive leadership positions as COO at Cardeas and vice president, regulatory affairs at Gilead Sciences.

InflaRx (Jena, Germany) has announced the promotion of Othmar Zenker to the newly created position of chief medical officer. Zenker has served as head of clinical R&D at InflaRx since 2013. He was previously global therapeutic area head, immunology at CSL Behring.