Swiss contract manufacturer Lonza has created a new position - chief technology officer - which will be held by Gerhard Klement. He will report to Stefan Borgas, Lonza's chief executive, and will be responsible for the investigation, improvement and development of new and current technologies with a major focus on biotechnologies.
Klement, currently head of Lonza Biopharmaceuticals, will be replaced by Stephan Kutzer. Meanwhile, Tomas Hainich will succeed Stephan Kutzer as the Head of Lonza's Performance Chemicals business unit. Lonza has also created another new position, head of mergers and acquisitions, which will be filled by the group's chief financial officer Roland Waibel.
West Pharmaceutical Services, which makes closure systems and syringe components for use with injectable drugs, has promoted Steven Ellers to the position of president and chief operating officer, effectively immediately. Mr Ellers joined West Pharma in 1983, and is currently the president of its Pharmaceutical Systems business.
Avecia Biotechnology has announced the appointment of Koen Hellendoorn as commercial development manager covering Benelux, Germany and Israel. He was most recently director of global technology alliances with Cambridge, UK-based Biovation (part of Merck), where he served as research manager. Since the late '90s, Avecia Biologics has specialised in process development and contract manufacturing for new protein-based drugs and vaccines.
Meanwhile, in the US, Avecia Biotechnology has expanded its team serving the biologics and DNA medicines sector with the appointment of two new commercial development managers. Tom Puskar, previously with Cardinal Health, has responsibility for the mid-Atlantic and mid-Western states. And Tammy Cooper, previously with Johnson Matthey Pharma Services, also joins Avecia as commercial development manager for the West Coast.
Genentech has made three vice president appointments in the company's product operations, regulatory, and research groups. David Broad is named vice president and general manager of Oceanside Product Operations, the facility just acquired from Biogen Idec. In addition, John Pinion becomes vice president, external quality, and Michael Varney is appointed vice president, small molecule drug discovery.
Patheon has named Clive Bennett to the position of president, Patheon USA, and president and chief operating officer of recently acquired contract manufacturing subsidiary MOVA Pharmaceutical, based in Puerto Rico. In his new role, Bennett will report to Nick DiPietro, president and chief operating officer of Patheon.
US biotechnology company Valentis has promoted John Reddington to the newly created position of chief operating officer, effective 1 July. Reddington's responsibilities include R&D, intellectual property and Valentis Bioprocessing, the firm's contract process development and manufacturing business.
Peter Martin, chief operating officer of specialty pharmaceutical firm Norgine, has been elected chairman of the European Medicines Group, which represents research-based drugmakers.
US-based Biosite has named Norman Paradis (formerly of the University of Colorado) as vice president, medical affairs, and has also promoted Elaine Walton to VP, quality assurance and program management.