Anne Bailey has been named NaPro BioTherapeutics' (Boulder, CO, USA) vice president of diagnostics and reagents and general manager of its genomics division. Ms. Bailey most recently served as vice president of diagnostics at Variagenics.

Eric H. Bjerkholt has been named senior vice president and CFO at Sunesis Pharmaceuticals (S. San Francisco, CA, USA). Mr. Bjerkholt previously held the same position at IntraBiotics Pharmaceuticals.

Hydra Biosciences (Cambridge, MA, USA) has elected Nick Colangelo to its board of directors. Mr. Colangelo is a managing director of Lilly BioVentures, which recently led a successful Series B financing for Hydra, raising $18.875 million.

Axonyx (New York) has announced that Michael R. Espey, vice president, general counsel, secretary and a director of the company, has left to pursue other professional opportunities. Axonyx CFO S. Colin Neill will assume Mr. Espey's duties.

ARYx Therapeutics (Santa Clara, CA, USA) has elected Paul Goddard and Lars Ekman as members of the company's board of directors. Dr. Goddard was also appointed chairman of the board. He was formerly president and CEO of Elan Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Goddard also serves as chairman of the board for XenoPort and AP Pharma, and is a director on the boards of Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Molecular Devices and Adolor. Dr. Ekman is executive vice president and president, global research and development and corporate strategy for Elan.

Osagie O. Imasogie has been named to the board of directors of Genaera (Plymouth Meeting, PA, USA). Mr. Imasogie has served in senior executive positions at GlaxoSmithKline, SmithKline Beecham, Endo Pharmaceuticals, DuPont Merck and Price Waterhouse. Most recently, he served as the founder and vice president of GlaxoSmithKline Ventures, GSK's venture capital group.

John Keller has been appointed to the board of directors of diaDexus (S. San Francisco, CA, USA). Dr. Keller currently serves as executive vice president and chief business officer of Incyte. Prior to joining Incyte in September 2003, Dr. Keller was with GlaxoSmithKline, most recently as vice president, business development in GSK's worldwide business development group.

Transkaryotic Therapies (Cambridge, MA, USA) has announced the appointment of Paul (Kip) M. Martha as vice president, clinical affairs. Dr. Martha joins the company from Interleukin Genetics, where he was chief medical and regulatory officer and vice president for clinical R&D for the past three years. Dr. Martha also previously served as vice president, clinical R&D at Praecis Pharmaceuticals.

Ciphergen Biosystems (Fremont, CA, USA) has named Gail Page as president of its newly formed diagnostics division and an executive vice president of Ciphergen Biosystems. From October 2000 to January 2003, Ms. Page was the executive vice president and chief operating officer of Luminex.

Joseph Rubinfeld has retired as chairman and CEO of SuperGen (Dublin, CA, USA). Dr. Rubinfeld, who cofounded the company and has served as chairman and CEO since 1991, will remain a member of the company's board of directors, and has accepted a position as chief scientist and chairman emeritus.

Sirna Therapeutics (Boulder, CO, USA) has announced the following management promotions: Nassim Usman, most recently CSO and vice president, R&D, has been promoted to senior vice president and chief operating officer; Barry Polisky, vice president, research, has been promoted to senior vice president, research; Chandra Vargeese, director of chemistry, has been promoted to vice president, chemistry; Mark Egan, director of manufacturing, has been promoted to vice president, manufacturing; and Patti Ketchner has been promoted from director of finance and corporate controller to vice president and corporate controller. In addition, Sirna announced the departure of Marvin Tancer, vice president, operations and CFO, to pursue other opportunities.

Johan Vanhemelrijck has been appointed secretary general of EuropaBio (Brussels), the association of European bioindustries. He will join the association in March as the successor of Hugo Schepens, who is retiring. Dr. Vanhemelrijck served for 12 years in the animal health division of Upjohn, after which he headed Fedesa, the European Federation of Animal Health, from 1989 to 2002. For the past year, he has been senior director, worldwide industry affairs for Pharmacia Animal Health.