Tag: Board of Directors
Company News: Aleva Neurotherapeutics Appoints Dr. Philippe Dro to its Board of Directors
– Seasoned entrepreneur brings 20 years of Life Science industry experience –
Aleva Neurotherapeutics, a leading company developing next-generation implants for Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) in major neurological indications such as Parkinson´s disease, today announced the appointment of Dr. Philippe Dro to its Board of Directors.
Dr. Dro brings 20 years of entrepreneurial experience in the life science industry, including a pivotal role in executing strategic transactions at several biotech and medtech companies. Until recently, he was Chief Executive Officer and a Member of the Supervisory Board of GlycoVaxyn AG, a vaccine company that was acquired by GSK earlier this year. Prior to this, he served as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Endoart S.A., a medtech company developing telemetry-driven implants for cardiac disease and obesity that was sold to Allergan, Inc. From 1999 to 2003, he was Chief Financial Officer and Head of Business Development at drug discovery company Axovan AG, which was acquired by Actelion in November 2003. Prior to that, he held various position at Novartis, Skyepharma, and Antares Pharma.
Dr. Dro received a doctorate in Pharmacy (Pharm D) from the School of Pharmacy of the University of Grenoble, France, and holds a joint MBA from Ecole Superieure de Commerce de Lyon, France, and Cranfield School of Management, United Kingdom.
Company News: InDex Pharmaceuticals Appoints Uli Hacksell and Jesper Wiklund to its Board of Directors
InDex Pharmaceuticals today announced that Uli Hacksell and Jesper Wiklund have been appointed as new members of the Board of Directors. Professor Hacksell and Mr Wiklund together bring to InDex over 40 years of senior management experience from the life sciences industry in drug development, commercial operations, and business development.
Uli Hacksell has over 20 years of international management experience from both large pharmaceutical and biotech companies. He was the CEO of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from September 2000 to March 2015, and led the company from a private start-up to becoming a public multibillion dollar company listed on the NASDAQ. Previously, Prof. Hacksell held senior executive positions at Astra AB and was president of Astra Draco, one of Astra’s largest Research and Development subsidiaries, where he directed an organization of more than 1,100 employees. Earlier in his career he held the position of Professor in Organic Chemistry at Uppsala University. He has a diverse Board experience from several long-term assignments, including SynAct Pharma A/S, SLS Invest AB, Action Pharma A/S and the Swedish Medical Products Agency. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Uppsala University.
Jesper Wiklund has over 20 years of international commercial experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry. Mr Wiklund currently holds the position of Managing Director at Oberland Capital. Mr Wiklund was CEO of InDex Pharmaceuticals from September 2011 to March 2015. Over the course of his career he has completed strategic transactions with an aggregate value exceeding USD 700 million. He previously worked at Swedish Orphan Biovitrum where he was responsible for Business Development, at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and Elan Pharmaceuticals in the United States and at Evotec in Germany. Mr Wiklund has a B.Sc. from St Marys College of California and a MBA from Harvard Business School.
Company News: Peter Zerhouni new CEO of InDex Pharmaceuticals
InDex Pharmaceuticals today announced that the Board of Directors has named Peter Zerhouni as new CEO. Peter Zerhouni comes from a position as CEO at Diamyd Medical AB where he has been instrumental in bringing the company’s business and clinical trials forward. He will succeed Jesper Wiklund, who has led the company since 2011.
Peter Zerhouni has a combined financial and biotechnology background with both biology and MBA degrees from the University of Lund in Sweden and the University of California, Berkeley, USA. Peter is since 2011 CEO of the publicly listed life science company Diamyd Medical AB where he also has been head of Business Development. He was a driving force behind one of the largest biotech out-licensing deals in Sweden in 2010. Peter has previously held various positions at ING Bank in Brussels and Amsterdam.
InDex Pharmaceuticals’ current CEO, Jesper Wiklund, has decided to leave the company to take on a position as Managing Director Europe at Oberland Capital, a life science focused investment firm based in the United States.
Peter Zerhouni takes over as CEO from April 1st, 2015.
Company News: Anergis Appoints Dr. Dino Dina to its Board of Directors
– Company appoints seasoned US vaccine and biotech executive –
Anergis, a company focusing on proprietary allergy vaccines, today announced the appointment of Dino Dina, MD, to its Board of Directors. Dr. Dina brings extensive expertise in the research and development of vaccines for allergy, cancer and infectious diseases as well as in building successful US biopharmaceutical companies.
From 1998 to 2013, Dr. Dina served as Chief Executive Officer of Dynavax Technologies Corporation and has been a member of Dynavax´ Board of Directors since 1997. During his tenure, he secured extensive financing through corporate alliances (UCB, Sanofi, AstraZeneca, GSK, Merck), private financings, an initial public offering (2004), and a series of public equity financings. Prior to joining Dynavax, Dr. Dina held a series of positions with increasing responsibility at Chiron Corporation, where he ultimately served as President of Chiron Vaccines. Under Dr. Dina’s direction, Chiron Vaccines received the first-ever approval of an adjuvanted influenza vaccine in Italy, successfully completed development of the first genetically engineered pertussis vaccine, and conducted clinical trials for vaccines to prevent HIV, herpes simplex type II, cytomegalovirus, and hepatitis B infections.