Appointments at DSM, Mersana and Diamyd Medical – People on the move
John Spohn has achieved Certified Pharmaceutical Industry Professional (CPIP) accreditation from the ISPE (International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering). Spohn has worked in pharma engineering for 30 years, most recently at Castle Hill Technologies.
Mersana Therapeutics has named Michael Metzger as executive vice president (EVP) and chief operating officer. Metzger previously led merger and acquisitions at Forest Laboratories.
Jos Schneiders is to retire as president of DSM Netherlands for personal reasons in July 2011. Schneiders has worked at DSM for almost 35 years and will continue on a part-time basis for a year after his retirement.
During this year Schneiders will transition responsibilities to Atzo Nicolaï. Nicolaï is a member of the Dutch House of Representatives and held ministerial positions for five years in the 2000s.
Protect Pharmaceutical has promoted Ramesha Sesha to CEO and chairman of the board. Sesha joined Protect as chief operating officer in March 2011 following the patent acquisition agreement with Nectid. Before joining Protect Sesha was CEO and founder of Nectid.
Peter Zerhouni has risen quickly through the ranks at Diamyd Medical over the past week. On April 21 Zerhouni was named EVP, adding to his responsibilities as senior director, business development. Then, on April 26, Zerhouni was made acting president and CEO of Diamyd.
Zerhounireplaces Elisabeth Linder who stepped down as president and CEO after disagreeing with the board on “certain important matters”, said Diamyd.Zerhounihas worked at Diamyd since 2006.
Novavax has made two senior appointments. Louis Fries III has joined as VP, clinical and medical affairs and Jane Halpern has been recruited as VP of regulatory affairs.
Fries has previously worked at GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals. Halpern joins from the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
