Niels Ackermann has been appointed CFO and member of the executive board of Wilex (Munich, Germany). He had been serving as acting CFO since April. Previously, Mr. Ackermann was CFO at Cardion.

Oxxon Therapeutics (Oxford, UK) has announced the appointment of Benjamin McNeil Bailey as vice president of finance and operations. He joins the company from KPMG Consulting where he advised FTSE 100 companies on finance strategy.

Don G. Burstyn
Alexey L. Margolin

Altus Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, MA, USA) has appointed Don G. Burstyn vice president, regulatory affairs. Before joining Altus, he served in the same capacity at Alkermes. The company also announced the promotion of Alexey L. Margolin to the newly created position of chief scientific officer. Dr. Margolin joined Altus in 1993 as director of research, and was promoted to the position of vice president of science in 1996.

Illumina (San Diego, CA, USA) has named Karin Eastham to its board of directors. Ms. Eastham is currently executive vice president, COO and a member of the board of trustees of The Burnham Institute, and serves on the boards of Tercica, Oncosis, Cyntellect and Salmedix. She was previously senior vice president and CFO at Diversa.

J. Gregory Ford has been appointed vice president, business development and strategic planning and Bradley Zerler has been named vice president, research at CollaGenex Pharmaceuticals (Newtown, PA, USA). Mr. Ford joins CollaGenex from SkyePharma US, where he was vice president, global business development. Previously, he was president and COO of RTP Pharma and, following its acquisition by SkyePharma, president of SkyePharma Canada. Dr. Zerler worked for CollaGenex from 1997 to 2001 as director of research. Prior to rejoining the company, he served as director of biology for Locus Pharmaceuticals.

Theresa Gerrard has been appointed to lead the clinical and regulatory program for Australian Cancer Technology (Sydney, NSW, Australia) in the US. Dr. Gerrard was formerly director of the FDA's division of cytokine biology and director of development for Amgen.

Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) has announced that Sir David Lane will join its Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology as executive director for a two-year period. Prof. Lane will maintain his position as director of the Cancer Research UK Cell Transformation Research Group and professor of oncology at the University of Dundee in Scotland. One of the scientists credited with the landmark discovery of cancer gene p53, Prof. Lane is also the founder of Dundee-based Cyclacel.

Cambrex (E. Rutherford, NJ, USA) has announced John R. Leone as president, CEO and a member of the board of directors. James A. Mack, president and CEO since 1995 and chairman since 1999, will remain chairman of the board of directors until April 2005. In addition, the board appointed Gary L. Mossman to the position of executive vice president and COO of the company. Mr. Leone joins Cambrex from Aventis, where he most recently served as president of Aventis Dermatology.

NeoStem (Agoura Hills, CA, USA) has named Brad Maroni vice president, clinical development. Dr. Maroni was an associate professor of medicine at Emory University before serving most recently as vice president of clinical research at Amgen.

Exelixis (S. San Francisco, CA, USA) has appointed George Poste to its board of directors. Dr. Poste was formerly president of R&D at SmithKline Beecham (now GlaxoSmithKline) and is currently director of the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University. Dr. Poste also serves as CEO of Health Technology Networks, nonexecutive chairman of Orchid Biosciences, member of the board of directors at Monsanto, and member of the Defense Science Board of the US Department of Defense.

Charles Sholtz has been named vice president, legal affairs and intellectual property of Entelos (Foster City, CA, USA). Dr. Sholtz joins the company from Protein Mechanics, where he served as vice president of intellectual property.

Archemix (Cambridge, MA, USA) has named Augustine Yee vice president, business development. Mr. Yee was most recently vice president, head of business and corporate development at Prometheus Laboratories.