The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) has named Josephine Martin as executive vice president (EVP) of public affairs. Martin joins PhRMA from Ketchum where she held a similar position.
David Greenwood has been appointed interim-CEO and member of the board of directors at Geron following the departure of Thomas Okarma. Also, Alexander Barkas, chairman of the board, becomes lead independent director.
Shire has strengthened its R&D team with two appointments. Lawson Macartney, who worked at GlaxoSmithKline for 20 years, joins as SVP of the emerging business unit, and Mario Saltarelli, formerly of Abbott, is now SVP of clinical development and medical affairs.
Grant Gilker has been named general manager, operations for the DPT Laboratories’ semi-solids and liquids manufacturing facility in San Antonio, Texas, US. Gilker has 21 years of pharma manufacturing experience working at companies including Pharmetics and Patheon.
Eli Lilly has promoted Sue Mahony to SVP and president of the oncology unit. Mahony, formerly SVP of human resources, succeeds John Johnson who resigned last month. Before joining Lilly Mahony worked at Amgen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Schering-Plough.
Peter Pellerito has been appointed interim-VP for state government relations and alliance development at the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO). Pellerito has served as a consultant to BIO since 1995.
Optimer Pharmaceuticals has hired Glenn Tillotson, formerly of ViroPharma, as SVP of medical affairs. Also, Sherwood Gorbach is now chief scientific officer and SVP of R&D and Marc Lesnick has been promoted to the newly-created position of VP of regulatory affairs.