Forbion Capitals: Two new oncology experts

10.12.2012 - Forbion Capital Partners (Naarden, Holland) has hired two oncology experts as scientific advisors to its funds. Dr. Kapil Dhingra (Photo) is a former Global Leader Oncology at Roche, while John Kastelein is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Amsterdam’s Department of Vascular Medicine.

The two will be advising on oncology and metabolic disease investment opportunities respectively. Dhingra is a medical oncologist and physician/scientist. The founder of KAPital Consulting LLC used to head Roche's Disease Biology Leadership Team. Dinghra became VP Oncology at the Swiss pharma giant after joining the company in 1999. There he played a key role in the expansion of the firm's oncology department. Before that he had worked as a Clinical Research Physician at Eli Lilly and at the M.D.. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston (US). A former board member at BioVex and Micromet, Dhingra is also on the board of Exosome Diagnostics. Kastelein is a co-founder of Amsterdam Molecular Therapeutics N.V. (now uniQure B.V.) and Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc. (formerly Xenon Genetics Inc.).

His role at Prosensa will be to provide input on the company’s corporate strategy and growth plans.Termeer served as Chairman, President and CEO of Genzyme Corporation for nearly three decades. Under his leadership, the company evolved from a mid-sized biomedical company to one of the world’s leading biopharmaceutical companies, specialising in the field of orphan drugs. He retired from Genzyme in 2011 following its acquisition by Sanofi. Termeer is also involved in a number of other companies and not-for-profit.

03.01.2013 Scottish medical devices specialist Aircraft Medical (Edinburgh), has named Philippa Montgomerie as in-house legal counsel and new member of the Board.

The biochemist joins the company from global law firm DLA Piper, where she was a Partner in the UK Intellectual Property group, specialising in advising some of the world’s largest life science companies on a variety of issues, including patent strategy, commercial agreements and regulatory compliance. Prior to this, she spent ten years at the leading firm Linklaters in London. Whilst at DLA Piper, Montgomerie provided senior legal counsel to Aircraft on a number of matters including the Company’s commercial agreements and various regulatory and IP assignments.

27.12.2012 Finish Biotie Therapy Corp. has appointed David Cook as new Chief Financial Officer effective February 25. Kristian Rantala, current interim CFO, will resume his prior duties as Vice President, Finance and Administration, Finland.

David Cook brings in extensive industry expertise in life science enterprises in finance, strategy, investor relations and M&A. Biotie’s future CFO came in from public US company Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Inc.. Prior to that, Cook was CFO of EUSA Pharma Inc., which was acquired by Jazz Pharmaceuticals in mid-2012. Before joining EUSA, the chemist was Group Financial Controller at Zeneus Pharma Limited and worked with PricewaterhouseCoopers in the United Kingdom and Australia. David is a qualified chartered accountant and graduated from the University of Oxford with a degree in Chemistry.

13.12.2012 French drug giant Sanofi has hired one of the most prominent researchers from the US National Institutes of Health as its CSO and deputy to President Global R&D.

Gary Nabel will be responsible for coordinating Sanofi’s scientific direction for biologics, vaccines and animal health. An immunologist and virologist, Nabel came to the NIH in 1999 to head the newly formed Vaccine Research Center (VRC) at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). "I am very excited that Dr. Nabel will join Sanofi's R&D organization", said Dr. Elias Zerhouni, president of global R&D. "Our challenges today require that we re-invent our R&D model. Gary's experience will be invaluable to help us achieve this goal.

07.12.2012 French nasal and pulmonary drug delivery specialist Aptar Pharma (Louveciennes) has appointed Jean-Marc Pardonge (52) as the new President of its prescription division.

Pardonge succeeds Salim Haffar. The appointment also makes him the new General Manager of Aptar Stelmi, which is part of Aptagroup. Pardonge joined Pharma Prescription Division in 2000 as an R&D Manager after graduating from the ENSAM engineering school in France. There he became VP R&D in 2003, and President of Global Market Development in January 2010.

The former VP Group Finance and interim CFO of AstraZeneca will formally take up the post in February 2013. Brown brings in 25 years of pharma experience with AstraZeneca, where she held a number of senior financial and management positions

05.12.2012 Sanofi CEO Christopher Viehbacher has been named as President-elect of EFPIA, the European Pharma Association.

The former Chairman of PhRMA in the US and current Chair of the CEO Roundtable on Cancer will take the reins at the association beginning in June 2013. Before he was chosen as Sanofi's CEO in 2008, he spent 20 years with PriceWaterhouse Coopers.

23.11.2012 The European Embryo Transfer Association (AETE) has elected Frank Becker as the society’s new president.

The former AETE vice-president from Leibniz Institute for Farm Animal Biology (FBN) studied veterinay medicine at Humboldt University Berlin and is working in the field of reproductive biology at FBN in Dummerstorf, Germany. The AETE was founded 1985 in Lyon and lobbies for the interest of veterinary reproduction biologists.

21.11.2012 Pharmalink AB has appointed Dr Heather Cook as Director of Regulatory Affairs and Marek Poszepczynski (Photo) as Director of Business Development.

Heather Cook brings more than 15 years of experience within the pharmaceutical industry to the the Swedish specialty pharma company. She cames from H. Lundbeck A/S, where she headed up its regulatory development projects department. Prior to her time with Lundbeck, Dr Cook served at AstraZeneca as its global regulatory affairs director for oncology and a number of other senior roles, including scientific director for neuroscience and infection.Marek Poszepczynski joins Pharmalink after a career spanning 10 years and combining financial and business development experience. Before joining Pharmalink, he arrives at the company from analysts Handelsbanken, where he covered European and Swedish biotechnology stocks. Prior to Handelsbanken, Poszepczynski was Vice President of Business Development at Karolinska Development.

13.11.2012 Allan Hillgrove will take over Engelbert Tjeenk Willink's responsibilities on the firms board and as its Managing Director of Division Marketing and Sales Prescription as of 1 January 2013.

Willink, Member of the Board of Managing Directors at Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH and responsible for Marketing and Sales of Prescription Medicines since 2009, has decided to leave the pharma major and global contract manufacturer at the end of 2012. The native Australian (52), who joined the Boehringer Group in 1982, became Head of Established Markets in 2010. Willink worked as Head of Marketing for Prescription Medicines at Boehringer from 2001-2005. Before that he acted as Head of Marketing and Sales in Canada, and from 2005-2008 he worked as Country Manager of Boehringer Ingelheim Mexico. Last year, the pharma giant achieved net sales of over 13bn. R&D expenditure in the business area Prescription Medicines, the marketing area that will now be led by Hillgrove, corresponded to 23.5% of the company’s net sales.

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