Appointments at Sanofi-Aventis, MorphoSys and Ironwood Pharmaceuticals – People on the move

in-PharmaTechnologist presents its latest round up of movements in the pharma space, including appointments at Sanofi-Aventis, MorphoSys and Ironwood Pharmaceuticals.

Sanofi-Aventis has appointed Hugh O’Neill as president and CEO of its Canadian operations. O’Neill has more than 23 years experience in the pharma industry and will now lead Sanofi’s efforts to “make a fundamental shift in the way [it does] business in Canada”.

Before the appointment O’Neill served as vice president (VP), market access and business development at Sanofi in the US.

Thomas McCourt has joined Ironwood Pharmaceuticals as chief commercial officer and senior VP of marketing and sales. McCourt has previously worked at Amgen and Novartis.

Hygeia Therapeutics has appointed Elkan Gamzu as chairman of its board of directors. Gamzu has nearly 40 years experience in the pharma industry at companies including Pharmos, Millennium Pharmaceuticals and Hoffmann-LaRoche.

Hubert Chen has been appointed as VP of translational medicine at Regulus Therapeutics. Chen will be responsible for translating microRNA discoveries into new medicines.

MorphoSys has appointed Lisa Rojkjaer as VP and head of clinical development. Rojkjaer joins MorphoSys from Novartis and has previously held positions at Novo Nordisk.

Elizabeth Cermak has been appointed as executive VP, chief commercial officer at Pozen. Cermak will rake responsibility for the commercialisation strategies of all Pozen’s future product candidates.

Before joining Pozen Cermak spent 25 years at Johnson & Johnson, holding positions at Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceuticals, McNeil Consumer and Specialty Pharmaceuticals and other subsidiaries.

Clinical Data has elected Scott Tarriff to its board of directors. Tarriff has 25 years experience in the pharma industry, at companies including Par Pharmaceuticals and Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Mark Baker has been promoted to the newly created position of president of Progenics Pharmaceuticals. Baker joined the company in 2005 and has also been appointed to the company’s board of directors.