Goran Ando has been appointed chairman of the board of Novexel (Paris). Dr. Ando's long career in the pharmaceutical industry includes positions at Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Glaxo and Pharmacia. He was most recently CEO of Celltech Group at the time of its acquisition by UCB Pharma.

Genentech (S. San Francisco, CA, USA) has announced the promotions of David Ebersman to senior vice president, finance and Patrick Y. Yang to senior vice president, product operations. Mr. Ebersman, formerly senior vice president, product operations, will assume Louis Lavigne Jr.'s role as CFO upon his retirement in March. Mr. Yang was formerly vice president of Genentech's South San Francisco manufacturing and engineering operations. He joined the company in 2003 after serving as a vice president in Merck's manufacturing division.

The Institute for OneWorld Health (San Francisco, CA, USA), the first nonprofit pharmaceutical company in the United States, has announced that William A. Haseltine has joined its board of directors. Dr. Haseltine is the founder of Human Genome Sciences, and served as its chairman and CEO until his retirement in October 2004.

David Johnson has been appointed CEO of BioCrossroads, Indiana's life sciences initiative, replacing Charles Schalliol, who has been selected by Governor Mitch Daniels to lead the Indiana Office of Management and Budget. Mr. Johnson, a partner at the Indianapolis law firm Baker & Daniels, has been involved in the initiative since its inception, serving as chairman of its Capital Formation Task Force and leading the development of the Indiana Future Fund, a $73 million venture capital pool devoted to life sciences investments.

ActivBiotics (Lexington, MA, USA) has appointed Glenn Kazo to the newly created role of chief business officer. Mr. Kazo was a cofounder of Enzon, serving as vice president of sales and marketing, and was most recently chief business officer, US general manager and a board member at XTL Biopharmaceuticals.

Peter Lenehan
David Fry

Peter Lenehan and David Fry have been named to the positions of chief medical officer and chief science officer, respectively, at Genetics Squared (Ann Arbor, MI, USA). Dr. Lenehan was most recently director of clinical oncology at Pfizer. Dr. Fry, already a member of the company's scientific advisory board, has over the past 18 months been a lecturer and consultant on drug discovery and targeted therapy. Previously, he served as a senior research fellow in oncology drug discovery at Pfizer's Ann Arbor laboratories.

Alison Pilgrim has been appointed chief medical officer and Bryan Jones has been named vice president of business development of Kémia (San Diego, CA, USA). In addition, Ed Roberts has resigned from his current role as senior vice president and CSO at Kémia and has accepted a position at The Scripps Research Institute. Dr. Pilgrim served most recently as chief medical officer of Avera Pharmaceuticals, and Mr. Jones previously led the licensing of several preclinical and clinical stage programs at ICOS.

Neurogen (Branford, CT, USA) has announced the appointment of Craig Saxton as chairman of the board of directors. Dr. Saxton was most recently executive vice president for global clinical development at Pfizer until his retirement in 2001. He succeeds Frank C. Carlucci, who is retiring as chairman after 15 years of service. Mr. Carlucci has been appointed chairman emeritus and will remain on Neurogen's board.

Domantis (Cambridge, UK) has announced the appointment of Mark Skaletsky as nonexecutive chairman of the board. Mr. Skaletsky is currently CEO of Trine Pharmaceuticals, and also serves on the boards of companies including Alkermes and ImmunoGen as well as the Biotechnology Industry Organization.

Dynavax Technologies (Berkeley, CA, USA) has named Deborah A. Smeltzer vice president, operations and CFO. She joins Dynavax from Applied Biosystems, where she served most recently as vice president and general manager of the company's genetic analysis business. Prior to Applied Biosystems, Ms. Smeltzer served as CFO and vice president at Genset.

Thorsten von Stein has been named to the newly created position of chief medical officer and senior vice president, clinical and regulatory affairs of Tercica (S. San Francisco, CA, USA). Dr. von Stein joins the company from Neurogesx, where he served most recently as chief medical officer, and previously, as vice president, clinical development.