People on the Move: Outsourcing Jobs
We begin this week with news from CordenPharma - the CMO who is manufacturing ex-shortage drug propofol on behalf of Teva – who has announced it will be splitting its operations into two groups: APIs and Drugs Products.
The Drug Product business will have a COO in the form of Dr. Karsten Benzing (left), currently Executive Principal at Corden’s parent group ICIG.
Dr. Christian Ewers (right), currently General Manager of CordenPharma Switzerland, will take the position of COO at the CordenPharma API business.
Provider of advanced artificial tissue constructs and microfluidic cell-based assay platforms, Hurel Corporation, has announced the appointment of Dr. James MacDonald to the Board of Directors.
MacDonald is the former Executive Vice President of Preclinical Development of the Schering-Plough Research Institute, which was the pharmaceutical development arm of Schering Corporation prior to its acquisition by Merck & Co. in 2009.
“Hµrel is privileged to benefit from Jim's extraordinary wisdom and experience, both as a scientist and as a drug development executive. His guidance will be invaluable,” said Robert Freedman, Hµrel's Chairman and CEO.
Peter Schineller has been made Chief Commercial Officer at molecular cancer diagnostics company Agendia.
Schineller comes to Agendia direct from Alexza Pharmaceuticals and has 25 years of experience in the business.
“Mr. Schineller's depth of experienced senior leadership of global commercial organizations will help us perpetuate our volume growth, which exceeded 140 percent in 2012,” said David Macdonald, Agendia's CEO.
Patient network PatientsLikeMe – a company that tracks and shares experiences in clinical trials - has appointed Martin Coulter as its first CEO since its founding in 2004.
“Healthcare is in a dramatic stage of transformation and transition, and PatientsLikeMe is leading the way to ensure the patient experience guides this change,” said Coulter. “I’m excited to join such a talented team of individuals as we make our way ever closer to the epicenter of what will advance medicine most – understanding patients.”
And finally this week, clinical investment group Avillion has expanded its team by appointing Ramani Varanasi as Chief Business Officer.
Varanasi has over 18 years of biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry experience, with senior roles at companies including Merck, Millennium/Takeda and Momenta.
Lewis Cameron , CEO of Avillion, said: “We are excited to have Ramani on the Avillion team, where our key focus is the execution of co-development and financing deals with pharma and biotech companies.”