Algeta (Oslo) has announced the appointment of Andrew Kay (right) as president and CEO. Kay brings more than 25 years of commercial experience in the pharmaceutical sector, most recently serving as executive director, commercial at Renovo. Previously, he was global head of marketing and sales and a member of the healthcare committee and pharmaceutical executive committee at Novartis. Thomas Ramdahl, who has served as CEO of Algeta since 2001, will take up the position of executive vice president and chief technology officer.

Stein Annexstad, chairman of Algeta, says, “As the company moves into a more commercial phase of its development, we are very pleased to have been able to attract Andrew to strengthen the executive management team. We believe that his international commercial expertise and networks complement the existing skills in the company and will be of significant value to Algeta in bringing [lead cancer drug] Alpharadin to market.”

Clinical research provider Xceleron (York, UK) has named Michael Butler president and CEO. Butler most recently served as president and chief scientific officer at Aptuit.

Curt I. Civin, a cancer research pioneer known for developing a way to isolate stem cells from other blood cells, has joined the University of Maryland School of Medicine (Baltimore). He will become a professor of pediatrics in the division of hematology/oncology, as well as associate dean for research and the founding director of the new University of Maryland School of Medicine Center for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. Civin comes to the University of Maryland School of Medicine from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where he has served as a faculty member since 1979.

Genomic Health (Redwood City, CA, USA) has named Ginger L. Graham to its board of directors. She is the former president and CEO of Amylin Pharmaceuticals and also served as group chairman, office of the president, for Guidant.

Achaogen (San Francisco) has announced the appointments of Thomas B. King, president and CEO of Alexza Pharmaceuticals, and Christopher T. Walsh, the Hamilton Kuhn Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at Harvard Medical School, to its board of directors.

Metabasis Therapeutics (San Diego) has announced the resignation of president and CEO Paul Laikind to pursue other opportunities. He will continue to serve as a member of the board of directors. In conjunction with Laikind's resignation, Mark D. Erion, chief scientific officer and executive vice president of R&D and a member of Metabasis' board of directors, has been named president, CEO and chief scientific officer.

SV Life Sciences (Boston and San Francisco) has appointed Paul LaViolette as a venture partner focusing on the medical technology sector. He is the former COO of Boston Scientific.

Pierre Legault has been appointed executive vice president, CFO and treasurer of OSI Pharmaceuticals (Melville, NY, USA). He has over 16 years of senior management experience in the pharmaceutical industry, including worldwide president of Sanofi-Aventis dermatology and senior vice president and CFO of Aventis Pharmaceutical North America.

Illumina (San Diego) has named Mark Lewis senior vice president of development, a newly created role. He joins the company from Becton Dickinson Biosciences, where he was most recently vice president of special order research products.

Dennis C. Liotta has been elected to the board of directors of Achillion Pharmaceuticals (New Haven), filling the vacancy created by the departure of Jean-Francois Formela. Liotta is the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Chemistry at Emory University, and has been a professor of organic chemistry at the university since 1976. In addition, he serves on the scientific advisory boards of Chimerix, iThemba Pharmaceuticals and MetaStatix.

Luc Montagnier, co-winner of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and the co-discoverer of the HIV virus, has joined Viral Genetics (San Marino, CA, USA) as an advisor. He is the co-founder of the World Foundation for AIDS Research and Prevention and co-directs the Program for International Viral Collaboration.

The Automation Partnership (Cambridge, UK) has appointed David Newble (right) as CEO-designate to succeed Andy Morffew, who will step down as CEO in April 2009. Newble joined TAP in January 2006 as CFO. He previously held the position of vice president, finance and director, RFID operations at BTG plc.

MorphoSys (Martinsried, Germany) has announced the appointment of Arndt Schottelius as its first chief development officer. Schottelius joins MorphoSys from Genentech, where he served as the director of immunology, tissue growth and repair, early development and most recently as medical director, immunology development.

Theodore C. Sorensen has joined Neogenix Oncology (Great Neck, NY, USA) as vice chairman. Sorensen is counsel at the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. Previously, he served as President John F. Kennedy's primary speechwriter and special counsel. He has been affiliated with the Council on Foreign Relations, the Century Institute>, Princeton University and the Harvard Institute of Politics, and is currently an advisory board member for the Partnership for a Secure America and chair of the advisory board to the International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life at Brandeis University.

XOMA (Berkeley, CA, USA) has named John Varian to its board of directors. Varian currently serves as COO and CFO of Aryx Therapeutics.