Applied Biosystems, Pharmos, Pearl Therapeutics, Pacira Pharmaceuticals and Covance - People on the move

Applied Biosystems, Pharmos, Pearl Therapeutics, Pacira Pharmaceuticals and Covance have all had people on the move in the world of pharmaceutical manufacturing.

Mark Stevenson got an early Christmas present in December, with news of a promotion to president and chief operating officer of Applera Corporation's Applied Biosystems Group.

Stevenson has been with the firm since 1998, and has now been promoted from his former position of executive vice president which he held for five months from July 2007 while CEO Tony White acted as interim president.

Stevenson's responsibilities as executive vice president expanded to include oversight of Europe, Japan, Global Services and the Applied Markets business, with his new role will now also including the firm's proteomics and small molecule division and the Asia Pacific region.

Biopharmaceutical company Pharmos announced that president and COO Alan Rubino resigned from the firm shortly before Christmas.

Rubino joined Pharmos just over two years ago, with the firm kicking off restructuring initiatives in its Israeli operations in recent months.

According to the US firm's announcement, "Mr. Rubino's experience and competencies are broader than the restructured Pharmos requires and he has elected to pursue new leadership opportunities that more closely align with his general management skill set and career interests."

Pearl Therapeutics also announced a change in its senior management, with Michael Golden named as the firm's new vice president of regulatory affairs and quality.

Golden joins Pearl after 20 years at GlaxoSmithKline, where he was most recently director of external advocacy, global CMC submissions and regulatory affairs.

Alongside Golden's appointment, Pearly also named Colin Reisner as the firm's new chief medical officer and executive vice president of clinical development and medical affairs.

Specialist in controlled release injectables, Pacira Pharmaceuticals has named its new president and CEO as David Stack .

Stack is currently the founder and CEO of Stack Pharmaceuticals and executive partner at MPM Capital.

Stack has also previously held positions at The Medicines Company, Innovex, Immunomedics and Roche Labs.

Wendel Barr this week started his new job at COO of US firm Covance , moving up from his former position as president of early development for the North America region.

Barr joined the firm in 2000 as vice president and general manager of Covance's Labs North America division, and was promoted in 2003.

Prior to joining Covance, Barr worked for Marconi Medical systems and spent 15 years at GE in a variety of positions.

Alongside Barr's appointment, Covance also announced that Mike Lehmann, general manager of the firm's preclinical laboratory facility in Wisconsin, was named president of Labs North America and will also serve on the company's Global leadership Council.