Mass director resignations at Gentium and executive lay-offs at Ambrilia – People on the move

By Nick Taylor

- Last updated on GMT

Related tags Corporate governance Ceo

in-PharmaTechnologist presents its latest round up of movements in the pharma sector, including mass director resignations at Gentium and executive lay-offs at Ambrilia.

Ambrilia Biopharma ​has laid off its CEO and chief financial officer (CFO) in an attempt to reduce costs. The board of directors approved the removal of Philippe Calais​, CEO, and Monique Letourneau​, CFO, as part of its restructuring efforts.

Richard La Rue​ has been appointed as interim CEO and Brian Davies ​has replaced Letourneau as CFO.

At Gentium​ five of the eight board members have resigned, triggering the automatic termination of the board under Italian law. A shareholders meeting is expected to be held in October that will appoint new board of directors.

The resignation of the board members followed news that Laura Ferro​, CEO of Gentium, will step down. Dissatisfaction at corporate governance and the company’s management were cited by the resigning directors as reasons for their decision.

NanoInk ​has appointed John Kubricky​, a former US Deputy Under Secretary of Defense, to its scientific advisory board. Kubricky left the Defense Department earlier this year and prior to this worked at the Department of Homeland Security.

Christy Shaffer​ will step down as CEO of Inspire Pharmaceuticals​ when the company completes its external search for a replacement.

Shaffer has been CEO for more than 10 years having joined the company in 1995. Prior to joining Inspire Shaffer worked at Burroughs Wellcome, which is now part of GlaxoSmithKline.

Novo Nordisk​ has appointed Per Falk​ as vice president for clinical, medical and regulatory affairs for North America. Falk has 23 years medical, research and pharmaceutical experience at companies including AstraZeneca.

He has worked at Novo since 2002 when he joined as vice president to establish the experimental medicine unit in Denmark.

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