News from Onconova, Halozyme and Rib-X Pharmaceuticals – People on the move
Let’s kick things off with news from biopharma company Rib-X Pharmaceuticals. Several appointments have been made by the antibiotic developers including a new CEO, Mary Szela, who comes from over 20 years of senior roles at Abbott Laboratories, most recently serving as Senior Vice President, Global Strategic Marketing and Services of the Pharmaceutical Products Group.
The other appointments were Dr. Eugene Sun as EVP, Research and Development, Michael Kenston as Chief Commercial Officer and Dr. Thomas Koestler as Chairman of the Board.
“The experience and expertise that Mary, Eugene, Mike and Tom bring to Rib-X is impressive and represents a new beginning for the Company,” said Kevin Ferro, CEO of Vatera Holdings, backers of Rib-X.
To Collegium Pharmaceutical next, and Douglas Carlson has been appointed Vice President of Business Development.
Carlson comes from BTG International where he held the role of Senior Director, Business Development and prior to this he served at Ovation Pharmaceuticals playing a role in the sale of Ovation to Lundbeck.
Michael Heffernan , CEO of Collegium, expressed his pleasure in the appointment: “As we rapidly advance Oxycodone DETERx® towards an NDA filing within the next 12 months, we will be initiating a process to identify potential commercial partners for both the U.S. and international markets. We are excited to have a person with Doug's experience and background joining the team at this important time for the Company.”
Matt Posard - currently Senior Vice President and General Manager of Translational & Consumer Genomics at Illumina - has been appointed onto the Board of Directors at Halozyme Therapeutics.
Halozyme’s President and CEO, Dr. Gregory Frost, said: “We welcome Matt to our Board of Directors. His strategic marketing experience will complement Halozyme's Board well as we increase our commercial activities with Hylenex.”
There is a new Vice President of translational Medicines at Connecticut, US-based biopharma company Kolltan Pharmaceuticals in the form of Dr. Theresa LaVallee.
LaVallee most recently served as Senior Director, Translational Medicine at MedImmune, the global biologics arm of AstraZeneca and has over 25 years of experience in the industry.
Dr. Jerry McMahon, President and CEO of the company said of LaVallee: “Her leadership experience and record of success in the biotechnology industry and her scientific background in oncology and inflammation make her a great addition as head of our translational medicine effort as we advance our products toward the clinic.”
Biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry veteran, Ajay Bansal, has been appointed Chief Financial Officer at Onconova Therapeutics, a company focused on the discovery and development of novel small molecule drugs for the treatment of cancer.
Bansal has over 25 years of experience in the industry, and Ramesh Kumar, Onconova’s CEO said “Ajay brings leadership experience relevant to all key aspects of Onconova’s corporate development, including financing, strategic planning, licensing, sales and marketing, and pricing.”
And finally this week, Aerie Pharmaceuticals has named Dr. Vicente Anido, Jr. - a veteran in the industry and President and CEO of ISTA Pharmaceuticals prior to its acquisition by Bausch + Lomb - as Chairman of its Board.
Dr. Thomas van Haarlem, Aerie’s President and CEO welcomed his new Chairman and said he looked “forward to his contributions to Aerie’s continuing success in advancing our novel glaucoma product candidates.”
The company has also appointed Dr. David Epstein as Chairman of its Scientific Advisory Board.
