Milestone Scientific (NYSE:MLSS) said last week that chairman of the board Leslie Bernhard will take over as interim CEO after former president & CEO Daniel Goldberger resigned at the start of this month.

The Livingston, N.J.-based company is conducting a formal search for a new CEO as the board of directors evaluates options for its CompuFlo epidural system that recently won 510(k) clearance.

“Following our recent 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, we have received extremely positive industry feedback regarding our CompuFlo epidural system. Both the board and senior management are laser focused on building a cost-effective global distribution network, which may include strategic partnerships, distribution agreements and/or licensing opportunities,” Bernhard said in prepared remarks.

“Based on the outcome of these discussions, we will direct resources towards those opportunities that we believe provide the greatest value and return on capital for shareholders. I am fully confident in the ability of the current senior management team to execute on our near-term goals, and longer-term strategic vision to establish CompuFlo as the standard-of-care in painless and precise drug delivery across the U.S., Europe and around the world.”

“As chairman of the company, Leslie has overseen the strategic direction of the company,” board member Leonard Osser added. “She brings an impressive background and vision that is closely aligned with the objectives of the board. I am 100% confident in both her leadership abilities, as well as the near and long-term outlook for the business. This is a very exciting time for Milestone and we look forward to providing additional details on our ongoing strategic initiatives in the coming months.”

 Aerie adds to commercialization team as FDA reviews Rhopressa application
Aerie Pharmaceuticals (NSDQ:AERI) expanded its commercialization team last month, adding David Biddell as regional sales director for the southeast region, and Shaun Gentry and Erin Horn as directors of national accounts in the market access group.

Biddell comes to Aerie from Valeant’s Bausch + Lomb and Gentry and Horn both previously worked at Novartis.
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  Ocular Therapeutics names CFO
Ocular Therapeutix (NSDQ:OCUL) named Donald Notman as chief financial officer, effective immediately last month. The move comes after a variety of personnel changes at the company, including a new chief executive and a new chief medical officer.

“Donald brings an extensive financial background as well as a wealth of experience and relationships ideally suited to Ocular Therapeutix,” president & CEO Antony Mattessich said in prepared remarks. “He will be a strong complement to our existing team and his expertise will be invaluable as we focus our efforts on leveraging our hydrogel technology platform to build a leading biopharmaceutical company. We would also like to thank George for his many contributions as interim CFO over the last several months and wish him all the best.”

“Ocular’s innovative hydrogel technology platform along with the team’s formulation and product development expertise provide Ocular with the ability to leverage the platform in a number of ways to advance the Company,” Notman added. “I look forward to applying my background and expertise to help Ocular achieve its full potential.”
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 Allergan EVP and CFO Tessa Hilado to retire
Allergan (NYSE:AGN) said last month that the company’s EVP and CFO, Tessa Hilado, has decided to retire.

“When I joined Allergan in December 2014, I promised Brent Saunders, chairman and CEO, that I would stay three years to help transform the finance organization, institute better systems and financial controls and improve the balance sheet,” Hilado said in prepared remarks. “I am proud of the improvements we have made in each of these areas and the talent that we have attracted to our finance organization over that time, including new leaders for commercial finance, tax, research & development finance and investor relations & strategy. Now is a good time to announce my retirement from Allergan so that we have time to identify my successor and orchestrate a smooth hand-off to continue Allergan’s progress.”

“Tessa has led a successful transformation of our finance organization, and accomplished a great deal during her time at Allergan. We completed and financed the acquisition of Allergan, divested our global generics business to Teva, steadily paid down debt, refinanced debt at a lower interest rate and completed actions to return cash to shareholders by instituting our first dividend and completing $15 billion in stock repurchases, including a $10 billion accelerated stock purchase,” chairman & CEO Brent Saunders added. “Personally and professionally I will miss working with Tessa and I’m appreciative of her dedication to Allergan in ensuring a smooth and seamless transition to her successor.”
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 Anika names VP of regulatory & clinic affairs
Anika Therapeutics (NSDQ:ANIK) named Steven Chartier as VP of regulatory and clinical affairs in August.

“We’re excited to strengthen and solidify our regulatory and clinical development capabilities with the addition of Mr. Chartier, a veteran regulatory and clinical affairs professional with proven expertise in spearheading regulatory strategy and leading a wide array of products through U.S. and global approvals,” CEO Charles Sherwood said in prepared remarks.

“Mr. Chartier is the latest of the strategic, senior-level hires we’ve made to advance our robust orthobiologics and regenerative medicine pipeline, and build out our direct commercialization capabilities that will bring forth the next decade of growth for Anika.”
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• Aerie appoints VP of drug product manufacturing, VP of R&D 
• Biogen names Lee to lead Alzheimer’s disease therapeutic area
• Scholar Rock chooses VP of regulatory affairs
• Provention Bio names CFO, chief scientific exec 
• Sanofi names EVP of diabetes, cardiovascular biz

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