The president & CEO of Ocular Therapeutix (NSDQ:OCUL), Amarpreet Sawhney, is slated to step down from the company that he helped start in 2006.
He will serve as the board’s executive chairman for 1 year, unless he decides to leave earlier. The company wrote in a regulatory filing that “his service will be automatically renewed for an additional 1-year term upon each successive anniversary of the transition date.”
Antony Mattessich was named president & CEO in place of Sawhney, effective Sept. 18. He joins the company from Mundipharma International, where he worked as managing director since May of 2011.
Mattessich has also worked for an array of pharmaceutical giants, including Novartis (NYSE:NVS) and Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY).
OCUL shares tanked this morning, trading down -12.5% at $10.10 apiece.
Pulmatrix adds to board
Pulmatrix (NSDQ:PULM) appointed biopharma veteran Amit Munshi to its board of directors last week.
Munshi is the president & CEO of Arena Pharmaceuticals, which is developing small molecule therapeutics. He has also served as CEO of Epirus Biopharmaceuticals and Percivia LLC, which was sold to Johnson & Johnson.
“I am excited to be joining the board and helping in the company’s next stage of growth,” Munshi said in a statement. “As a lifelong sufferer of pulmonary disease, I am deeply passionate about the Company’s mission and innovative approach to treating the lungs with the iSperse technology.”
“Mr. Munshi brings a breadth of experience in our industry to the table including commercialization of products and business development,” Pulmatrix CEO Robert Clarke added. “His previous successes at biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies will broaden the scope of our board as we move into our next stage of company growth and development of our pipeline programs.”
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Eton Pharmaceuticals names CEO, director
Eton Pharmaceuticals said today that it brought on Sean Brynjelsen as CEO of the development-stage pharma company.
Brynjelsen has served as an executive at Sagent Pharmaceuticals, Akorn Pharmaceuticals, Hospira and Baxter. At Eton, he plans to lead the development of Eton’s sterile injectable products.
“I am thrilled to be leading Eton’s growing group of pharmaceutical industry professionals,” he said. “The Eton team has vast experience in the sterile drug development process and they all have impressive records of success, leading to the creation of significant shareholder value. It is a great privilege to join with and lead our accomplished team as we to develop our portfolio of high impact branded medicines.”
“We are excited to have Sean leading the charge for Eton. His experience within the pharmaceutical industry of value creation speaks for itself. He is the perfect person to execute Eton’s exciting strategy,” director Mark Baum added. “Sean’s prior experience focused on the development of sterile injectable drugs and the 505(b)(2) process, which we are confident will translate well to the business of Eton Pharmaceuticals. Having Sean at the helm is great for the patients Eton will serve, and is great for our shareholders.”
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Nanotherapeutics promotes Khoury to president, CEO
Contract development & manufacturing organization Nanotherapeutics said this week that it promoted Peter Khoury to president & CEO of the company. He previously worked as the senior VP and chief commercial officer.
Prior to joining Nanotherapeutics, he served at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as senior program officer of life science partnerships. He has also worked as VP of global marketing for Baxter.
“I am honored to accept the roles of president and chief executive officer and look forward to guiding Nanotherapeutics as the company continues to leverage its proprietary technology platforms and exceptional industry relationships toward its goal of becoming the global leader in advanced biologics manufacturing, with a focus on infectious disease,” Khoury said in a statement.
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Biogen brings on pharma HR veteran
Biogen (NSDQ:BIIB) said this week that it named Ginger Gregory to lead the company’s global human resources strategy. She will also serve on the company’s executive committee, according to Biogen.
Most recently, she was the chief human resources officer at Shire Pharmaceuticals.
“It is exciting to have an HR leader of Ginger’s caliber join us at this time,” CEO Michel Vounatsos said in a press release. “Her extensive experience in our industry makes her especially attuned to the particular organizational and cultural priorities of a company like Biogen. Her expertise will be enormously valuable as we endeavor to attract, develop, and retain a supremely talented, culturally diverse workforce to execute on our mission to transform neuroscience and the treatment of neurological diseases.”
“It is an honor to be entrusted with helping shape the workplace of such a dynamic and well respected industry leader,” Gregory said. “We will remain focused on attracting and cultivating the most talented individuals in our industry as we work to extend our neuroscience leadership and build a culture and operating model that enables individuals and the organization to thrive.”
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