Welcome to this week's roundup of hirings and firings throughout the industry. Please send the good word (or the bad) from your shop to Michael Gibney (email | Twitter) or Emily Mullin (email | Twitter) and we will feature it here each Friday.
Former AstraZeneca, MedImmune exec tapped to head Vivus
Vivus ($VVUS), which sells the obesity drug Qsymia, has appointed Anthony Zook to serve as its CEO. Zook formerly served as executive vice president, Global Commercial Operations for AstraZeneca ($AZN) and president of MedImmune. "Obesity is a growing disaster for Americans. Aside from its obvious human costs, it creates economic costs due to associated comorbidities such as diabetes, strokes, heart attacks and depression," Zook said in a statement. "Our mission is to ensure that at-risk patients and their physicians know about Qsymia and have the information necessary to determine whether Qsymia can help address this devastating condition." Release
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Biotech
> Gradalis has appointed former Prometheus CEO and director Joseph M. Limber as the company's president and CEO. Release
> Emory University and Drug Innovation Ventures at Emory have appointed George Painter as CEO of DRIVE and director of the Emory Institute for Drug Development. Painter has been a member of the founding management teams of Triangle Pharmaceuticals, where he served as executive vice president of R&D, and Chimerix ($CMRX), where he served as president and CEO. Release
> Trade organization BioOhio has promoted John Lewis Jr. as CEO after three months as interim chief. Story
> Forma Therapeutics has appointed Christopher Kirby to the position of general counsel. Kirby was most recently vice president and Global Head Legal, Biosurgery and Renal Divisions, for Sanofi ($SNY) in Cambridge, MA. Release
> Prothena has appointed Dr. Dennis J. Selkoe to its board of directors. Release
> Techne ($TECH) has appointed J. Fernando Bazan as chief technology officer. Release
> Dr. Fred E. Cohen has been elected to BioCryst Pharmaceuticals' ($BCRX) board of directors. Release
> SynGen appointed Frank Pascale, formerly the senior vice president of business development for Pall Medical, to lead its cord blood processing unit. Release
> Dr. Maurizio Denaro joined Aptuit as the company's general manager in Verona, Italy. Release
> NeoStem brought on Stephen W. Potter as the company's executive vice president. Potter was senior vice president of operations and corporate development at Osiris Therapeutics ($OSIR). Release
> Receptos ($RCPT) hired Erle T. Mast, co-founder of Clovis Oncology ($CLVS), as the company's director. Release
> David Montez joined PDL BioPharma as controller and chief accounting officer. Release
Pharma
> Dr. Carol Satler has joined AMAG Pharmaceuticals as senior vice president of medical and scientific affairs. Prior to joining AMAG, Satler served in executive clinical development and medical affairs roles at Pfizer ($PFE) and Sanofi ($SNY), as well as at Forest Labs ($FRX) and Millennium. Release
> Dr. Adrian Hepner has joined BioDelivery Sciences International ($BDSI) as vice president of clinical research and regulatory affairs. Most recently, Hepner held the role of senior medical director at UCB BioSciences. Release
> Endo Health Solutions ($ENDP) named Don DeGolyer chief operating officer of pharmaceuticals. Release
Medical Devices
> Cancer Genetics ($CGIX) has appointed Keith L. Brownlie to serve on the board and its audit committee. Release
> Exalenz Bioscience has named Gavin Doree as the company's new vice president of sales. Previously, Doree served as the national director and the director of strategic accounts at Medivators. Release
> Larry Tarof, a renowned optoelectronic designer, joined Optelian to lead the design and development of the company's optoelectronic devices. Release
CRO
> ReSearch Pharmaceutical Services has hired Marc Wolff as the organization's chief financial officer. He joins the company from Catalent Pharma Solutions, where he served in a dual role as Global CFO Softgel Technologies as well as vice president and general manager Softgel Businesses in Australia and Japan. Release