Pharmaceutical Market Europe •December 2021 • 38-40
APPOINTMENTS
Merck
Stuart Hill
Merck has appointed Stuart Hill as UK & Republic of Ireland (ROI) medical director. Previously, Hill was Merck UK & ROI business unit director for Oncology. He has been with the company since 2010, playing a key role in the formation of Merck’s oncology alliance with Pfizer since 2015. Doina Ionescu, managing director and general manager for Merck’s UK & ROI Healthcare business said: “Stuart‘s internal move to medical director is testament to his resilience, hard work and dedication to put the needs of patients at the forefront of his role. His role in the oncology business has been pivotal in overcoming the challenges presented by the pandemic; he has focused on alignment across internal business functions and upskilling to improve performance and communication, resulting in strong sales growth in the oncology business.”
The British Pharmacological Society
Clive Dix
The British Pharmacological Society has awarded an Honorary Fellowship to Clive Dix, CEO of C4X Discovery. The award recognises his sustained excellence and leadership in science, healthcare and public service. In the last year, he has served as Interim Chair of the UK Vaccines Taskforce, where he played an integral role in the roll-out of vaccines in the UK.
The NHS Federation
Farah Jameel
The NHS Federation has appointed Farah Jameel as the BMA GP committee chair. Jameel will be working to support primary care. Jameel has been working with BMA for 11 years, having previously served as a member of the General Practitioners Committee, the GPC England Executive Team and as Deputy Chair of the Equality and Inclusion Committee.
FogPharma
Keith Orford
FogPharma has appointed Keith Orford as chief medical officer and executive vice president of clinical and translational science. Orford is an experienced drug development executive and joins FogPharma from Calithera Biosciences where he was chief medical officer. Prior to Calithera, Orford worked at GlaxoSmithKline and Merck and was a research fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital.
BIAL
Joerg Holenz
BIAL has appointed Joerg Holenz as R&D general manager. Holenz has over 20 years’ experience in creating ‘agile and successful’ R&D organisations, having worked predominantly in peripheral and central targets in the pain/neuroscience disease areas. He has previously worked at AstraZeneca’s CNS/pain research unit in Sweden as neuroscience project leader and at Grünenthal as SVP neuroscience.
Relief Therapeutics
Nermeen Varawalla
Relief Therapeutics has appointed Nermeen Varawalla to the position of chief medical officer. Varawalla brings to Relief her experience in clinical trials and medical affairs from her position as chief medical officer and head of clinical development at Atlantic Healthcare. Varawalla has also served as managing director of Clinstrat Ltd.
Relief Therapeutics
Jeremy Meinen
Relief Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company based in Geneva, Switzerland, also announced
that Jeremy Meinen, who currently serves as Relief’s Vice President of Finance and Administration, will also assume the role of Chief Accounting Officer. In that new role, he will continue to report to Jack Weinstein, Relief’s Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer.
Relief Therapeutics
Marco Marotta
Relief Therapeutics has promoted Marco Marotta to chief business officer, where he will be responsible for business development across the entire company. Marotta was previously part of Relief after Relief’s acquisition of APR Applied Pharma Research. Marotta has experience in operations, sales and business development in the pharmaceutical industry.
Recludix Pharma
Nancy Whiting
Recludix Pharma has appointed Nancy Whiting as chief executive officer. Recludix Pharma uses platform approaches to discover inhibitors of challenging cancer and inflammatory disease targets. Whiting has an established track record in all phases of drug development. Whiting joins from Seagen, where she served as the executive vice president of corporate strategy.
bit.bio
Kathryn Corzo
Kathryn Corzo has joined Cambridge, UK-based cell coding company bit.bio as its new chief operating officer. Corzo has extensive experience in early and late drug development across multiple indication and platforms. Most recently, she served as partner at Takeda Ventures, and previously as head of Oncology Cell Therapy Development at Takeda Pharmaceuticals. She also served on Takeda’s R&D Management Committee, was a member of the pharma company’s Oncology Leadership Team and served on the board of directors for Maverick Therapeutics. In addition, she was previously Sanofi’s vice president, R&D and head, Myeloma, where she led global registration programmes to drug approvals in the US, EU and Japan.
FogPharma
Lihua Yu
FogPharma has appointed Lihua Yu as chief data officer. Yu joins FogPharma from H3 Biomedicine where she was president and chief data science officer. Yu will be responsible for overseeing the development and implementation of FogPharma’s data science strategy across all R&D functions and research programmes and will lead the team to meet its disease-driven targets.
Insightful Science and Dotmatics
Rebeca Sanchez Sarmiento
Rebeca Sanchez Sarmiento has joined Insightful Science and Dotmatics as chief financial officer. Sanchez Sarmiento has extensive experience across corporate strategy, FP&A and investor relations across both private equity-backed and publicly traded companies. In her new role, she will focus on developing an integrated share service environment to support the organisation’s M&A growth strategy.
Emergex Vaccines
Robin Cohen
Emergex Vaccines has promoted Robin Cohen to chief commercial officer. Cohen was recruited as director of business development at Emergex in February 2021 to support its vaccine development programme. Prior to joining Emergex, Cohen was at Janssen-Cilag, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, where he worked as part of the EMEA regional Business Development Team since 2017.
Metrion Biosciences
Rory Curtis
Rory Curtis is joining Metrion Biosciences as Vice President of US Commercial Operations. He will be integral in helping the company to grow and expand. Curtis comes from a background of drug discovery and development, as well as in global business development. He has spent 25 years in managerial roles at Regeneron, Millennium, Elixir and Cubist Pharmaceuticals.
Onyx Health
Lindsay Gill
Xilio has appointed Timothy Hunt to its executive team as chief culture and corporate affairs officer. He brings more than 20 years’ experience, including senior roles at Editas, Cubist Pharmaceuticals and Biogen. Hunt is a director of the non-profit organisation Life Sciences Cares and chair of the Ethics Committee of the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy.
Onyx Health
Benjamin Parker
Benjamin Parker will join Onyx Health as Chief Storyteller to enhance the company’s client service offering. Parker was most recently Senior Account Strategist at Newcastle-based digital marketing agency, Curtis Gabriel. Parker will bring to Onyx Health his broad expertise in social media strategy and implementation, digital content writing, storytelling and creating high quality digital campaigns.
Clasado Biosciences
David Mharakurwa
Clasado Biosciences has appointed David Mharakurwa as the newly created role of director of sales APAC & EMEA. This role represents Clasado’s next commercial step forward into the global health arena. Mharakurwa brings 12 years’ experience, having held senior sales roles with Fonterra, Agropur and Milk Specialties Global.
Fulcrum Therapeutics
Sonja Banks
Fulcrum Therapeutics has appointed Sonja Banks to its Board of Directors. Banks has 25 years’ experience in patient advocacy, community outreach and non-profit leadership and has worked in the rare disease and sickle cell disease communities. Banks joins Fulcrum Therapeutics from the International Dyslexia Association where she is the chief executive officer.
SOTIO
Alise Reicin
SOTIO has appointed Alise Reicin to its Strategic Advisory Board, in order to advance superior oncology research and their drug and business development strategy. Reicin joins from Tectonic Therapeutic where she was CEO and was previously president of Global Clinical Development at Celgene. Reicin is also a member of the board of directors of Homology Medicines.
SOTIO
Josep Taberno
SOTIO has appointed Josep Taberno as a member of its advisory board. Taberno has a strong background in academia and joins from the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital where he has been the head of the Medical Oncology Department, as well as director of the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology and professor of medicine at the Central University of Catalonia.
SOTIO
Anthony Tolcher
SOTIO has appointed Anthony Tolcher as a member of its advisory board. Tolcher brings 25 years’ experience in early drug development and clinical trials. Tolcher is currently CEO and founder of NEXT Oncology, a phase 1 group that seeks to transform early clinical trials. Previously Tolcher served as president and co-founder of START.
RBW Consulting
Mel Walker
RBW Consulting has appointed Mel Walker as non-executive director, as part of the company’s plans for a new brand outlook. Walker has over 20 years’ healthcare leadership in the UK, European and global markets and has held leadership roles in two global pharmaceutical companies. Walker is currently managing director of Biopharma Futures.
ONA Therapeutics
Michel Detheux
ONA Therapeutics has appointed Michel Detheux as Independent Chair to the Board of Directors. ONA Therapeutics focuses on the discovery and development of therapeutic biologics to treat advanced cancer. Detheux brings 25 years’ experience within the biotech industry and is currently President and CEO of iTeos Therapeutics where he spearheaded strategic collaborations with Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline.
Toxys
Bob van de Water
Bob van de Water has been appointed by Toxys to the newly created scientific advisory board. Van de Water has worked on molecular mechanisms of toxicity for over 30 years. He is currently professor in Drug Safety Sciences at the Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research at Leiden University and head of the Division of Drug Discovery and Safety.
Toxys
Peter Boogaard
Toxys has appointed Peter Boogaard to its newly established scientific advisory board. The board will strengthen the R&D activities of Toxys and will enable the company to grow. Boogaard joins Toxys from Shell where he had a number of positions, including Head of Biomedical Services, Global Discipline Lead and Manager of Toxicology.
Toxys
Clive Roper
Clive Roper will also join Bob van de Water and Peter Boogaard as a member of the newly created scientific advisory board at Toxys. Roper has previously worked for Charles River, where he progressed to Director. He is a member of the North American 3Rs Collaborative and has also set up a consulting business.
ProQR Therapeutics
Theresa Heggie
ProQR Therapeutics has appointed Theresa Heggie as Chief Commercial Officer. In this newly created leadership position, Heggie will be responsible for overseeing the company’s commercial strategy and global commercial operations. With significant experience in the global commercialisation of rare diseases, as well as in RNA therapeutics, Heggie most recently served as CEO of Freeline Therapeutics.
C4X Discovery Holdings
Mario Polywka
C4X Discovery Holdings PLC (C4XD) has appointed Mario Polywka as Non-Executive Director to the Board of Directors. Polywka has over 20 years’ experience in the Biotech industry, having had a senior position at Evotec SE for 12 years. Polywka holds a number of other Non-Executive Board Director positions at biotech companies including Exscientia, Forge, Blacksmith Medicines and Orbit Discovery.
Atriva
Piet Wignerinck
Atriva has appointed Piet Wignerinck to their advisory board. Wignerinck has vast experience in late-stage pharmaceutical development and was previously chief scientific officer of Galapagos, heading its R&D activities for nine years. Wignerinck spent three years prior as senior vice president of development at Galapagos. Previous career steps included Tibotec, Janssen Research Foundation and the Rega Instituut.
SpyBiotech
Simon Jones
SpyBiotech has appointed Simon Jones as VP, Finance and Operations. Jones will take over the role from Vien Phan, who will continue to serve as a strategic advisor to Biotech. Jones has 18 years’ experience as CFO in the life sciences sector. He joins from Karus Therapeutics, a company specialising in the treatment of haematological and solid-tumour cancers.