News from Genesis, Acino and Pharmalink AB – People on the move
Acino has appointed Jürgen Betzing as its new chief operations officer.
Prior to Acino, Betzing served as senior technical operations generics Europe, and as a member of the restricted executive board at Cephalon – which Acino is set to acquire.
In his new role he will be responsible for production, engineering, supply chain, logistics, sourcing, and safety and environmental protection.
Peter Burema, CEO of the Acino Group, said of Betzing: "His professional expertise and familiarity with Cephalon’s business will be invaluable to us, especially since we are in the process of acquiring part of it.”
Steven Rosenberg has joined Genesis Biopharma’s scientific and medical advisory board.
Rosenburg – who is also chief of the surgery branch and the National Cancer Institute, as well as professor of surgery at George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences – helped to develop the first effective immunotherapies for selected patients with advanced cancer.
"We are honoured to have Dr. Rosenberg serve on our Scientific and Medical Advisory Board,” said Anthony Cataldo, chairman and CEO at Genesis.
“A leading authority on immunology and cancer, Dr. Rosenberg pioneered adoptive cell therapy using autologous tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) to successfully treat patients with metastatic melanoma.”
Pharmalink AB has elected Anders Wiklund as chairman of the board, and Elisabeth Linder as new board member.
Wiklund – a 29-year veteran of Kabi and Pharmacia group of companies in a number of managerial positions – also serves on the boards of QuatRx, EffRx SA, Clavis Pharma AS and Life Medical AB.
Former CEO and president of Diamyd, Lindner, is a director at BioInvent International AB and Karo Bio AB.
With the appointments in place for the firm’s next stage of development – its compounds Nefecon and Busulipo are under development – MD Johan Haggblad said: “We have two highly promising product candidates under evaluation.
“Anders's and Elisabeth's exceptional industry experience will be invaluable in ensuring we realize value for Pharmalink and for patients with significant unmet medical need."
BioAdvance has named Sam Katz as the new chairman of the board.
He previously served as a partner and CEO of Wellspring BioCapital Partners – a firm he co-founded in 2004.
Katz is also currently leading the production of a multi-format documentary film on the history of Philadelphia titled “Philadelphia: The Great Experiment”.
Also new to BioAdvance is Larry Jameson and Lauren Lenfest, who will both become directors.
Patricia Molloy has joined Biothera as chief medical officer.
She will be accountable for the clinical development of Imprime PGG®, the company's immunotherapeutic oncology drug, currently in clinical trials for colorectal and lung cancer as well as chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
Prior to working in the pharmaceutical industry, Molloy was assistant professor of the neuro-oncology group, and director of the neurofibromatosis group, oncology division at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
