Contract reseach organisation (CRO) PharmaNet has appointed Beverly Harrison as senior vice president of early stage business development.
Harrison will be responsible for business development activities for the early stage service unit, which offers Phase I clinical trials and support services as well as bioanalytical laboratory and clinical laboratory services.
She joins the US-based CRO from competitor MDS Pharma Services where she was vice president and general manager for the Americas region.
PharmaNet has been trying to regain momentum after a long period of trouble with its Early Clinical unit.
The segment, where sales dropped 12.6 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2006, has been plagued by government and media scrutiny since 2004 after allegations were made over its inadequate clinical trial patient recruitment and informed consent practices at its site in Miami.
The site was subsequently shut down and remaining operations moved to Canada.
Meanwhile, Pharsight has strengthened its management team by promoting Daniel Weiner to chief technology officer and appointing Dana Cambra as vice president of research and development.
The eclinical company said Weiner has extensive drug development experience, while Cambra brings 20 years of experience in leadership in engineering, quality and project management.
DSM Pharmaceuticals has also announced a new appointment. The contract manufacturing organisation (CMO) said Joseph Marchese has joined the company as senior director and business manager for the sterile injectables business.
He will be replacing Terry Smith, the current business manager, who is appointed vice president of business management for the sterile CTM and cytotoxic business.
Also in the CMO arena, UK-based start-up R5 has named Barbara Lees as director of Quality Assurance (QA). The company said she boosts R5's expert drug development team with her experience and know-how in regulatory audits.
The firm, based on the BioCity campus in Nottingham, offers a range of services from drug formulation and delivery technology through to full scale manufacturing.
In other news, biotech company PDL BioPharma has elected Patrick Gage as its new chairman, following the resignation of Max Link who had chaired the board since 2004.
The company said Link stepped down both as chairman and a director to avoid a conflict of interest since the firm recently filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Alexion Pharmaceuticals, a company on which Link also serves as chairman of the board.
Also in the news last week is Chiltern, a Californian CRO, who has announced the appointment of Diana Wood as global head of business development. Wood was previously vice president of business development in North America.
Chiltern is a provider of services for Phase I to Phase IV clinical trials across a broad therapeutic range for a wide variety of pharma and biotech clients.
This week, Pharmatek Laboratories, has also made some changes in its business development team. The firm has appointed Yvonne Verburgt as senior director of the segment.
Verburgt joins Pharmatek from Patheon, where she was most recently business development manager of west coast sales.
This appointment follows the company's announcement of the opening of its new facility last month.
And finally, Parexel Consulting, a business unit of Parexel International, has expanded its capabilities by selecting five new consulting experts to "support its growth".
Carolyn Finkle, Lawrence Grylack, David Morse, Sally Hargus and Patrick Guinn, who have experience in regulatory affairs and product development, are based in the CRO's newly-established Washington DC-area office located in Maryland.
Commenting on the new appointments, Alberto Grignolo, corporate vice president of Parexel Consulting, said: "Our expanding team of consultants, many of whom have in-depth experience as former regulators, will assist our clients in gaining regulatory approval for important products."
