News from Eyevensys, Amarantus and SinuSys – People on the move
Ophthalmology has been in the news recently with Shire opening up its wallet and the trend looks set to continue as we begin this week’s People column with news that Parisian eye-focused, gene therapy company Eyevensys which has appointed Dr. Ivan Cohen-Tanugi as its new CEO.
Dr. Cohen-Tanugi - has worked previously for Sanofi, Amgen International, Roche Pharma and Teva Pharmaceuticals - was brought in to guide Eyevensys through preclinical tests of its candidate therapies.
“Ivan Cohen-Tanugi’s extensive experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnological fields will,” according to Eyevensys founder Francine Behar-Cohen, “contribute to Eyevensys’ ability to move at a faster pace and proceed to the clinical phase in the best possible circumstances.”
Next this week we move on to the top table changes at Amarantus BioScience, which has appointed Dr. Mark Benedyk to its Board of Directors.
Dr. Benedyk, who is currently a Managing Partner at Rila Partners, a business and corporate development consultancy, was previously head of The Pfizer Incubator.
Amarantus CEO Gerald Commissiong said: “With his knowledge and understanding of clinical development and regulatory affairs, as well as the financial and operating requirements of a development-stage company, Mark will be an important resource for all aspects of managing our progress and creating value for shareholders.”
Three new appointments now from sinusitis therapy and technology developers SinuSys:
- Michael Daniel will serve as acting Vice President, Regulatory
- Eric Schaefer as Director, Commercial Development
- Sagar Pushpala as Operations Advisor
Thomas Schreck, CEO of SinuSys said of the new appointees: “Their respective expertise in regulatory affairs, commercialization, and technology operations management will further ensure our success as we expand internationally, scale up manufacturing, and prepare for entry into the US market.”
Now over to Boulder, Colorado where biopharmaceutical company Array BioPharma has appointed a new Chief Medical Officer in the form of Dr. Michael Needle - a man with over 14 years of experience in the drug development and regulatory fields.
“With Array's focus in blood cancers and solid tumors, Dr. Needle's prior experience at ImClone, Celgene and more recently the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation will be invaluable,” said Ron Squarer, CEO of ArrayPharma.
And finally for this week dysphagia treatment company Phagenesis Dr. Oern Stuge, former senior executive at Medtronic and Abbott Laboratories, as Chairman.
Dr. Stuge will replace Henry Hyde Thomson who said: “In the three years I have served as Chairman, Phagenesis has grown from a start-up to a revenue-generating company which has successfully launched its dysphagia treatment. Dr Stuge’s extensive experience in the field of medical devices will help ensure Phagenesis’ continued success as it rolls out this vital treatment to patients and their carers around the world.”