Business Drivers 4240

BUSINESS DRIVERS

Transport Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Framingham, MA) has appointed Brian M. Gallagher, PhD, to its board of directors. A 25-year veteran of the specialty pharmaceuticals, healthcare, and diagnostics industries, Gallagher is currently president and CEO of Magen Biosciences (Cambridge, MA), a dermatology-focused specialty pharmaceutical company. Transport Pharmaceuticals, which is focused on the convergence of medical devices and therapeutics for topical treatment of dermatological conditions, also recently expanded its scientific advisory board. The board's latest additions are Bruce E. Strober, MD, PhD, assistant professor in the dermatology department at New York University School of Medicine and associate director of the dermatopharmacology unit; Agis Kydonieus, PhD, president of Samos Pharmaceuticals LLC; and Mark R. Prausnitz, PhD, professor of chemical and biomedical engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Haemacure Corp. (Montreal) has appointed Joseph A. Akers to its board of directors. Akers, who will also be a member of the company's audit committee, comes to the company after a 30-year career at Bayer Healthcare (Leverkusen, Germany). Until the beginning of 2007, Akers was president of the Bayer Healthcare hematology-cardiology business unit, formerly known as the biological products division. Haemacure Corp. is a specialty biotherapeutics company that uses its proprietary plasma protein extraction technology to develop next-generation products, including hemostats for surgical use.

Drug-eluting stent developer Stentys (Paris) has appointed a scientific advisory board. It includes Maurice Buchbinder, MD, director of interventional cardiology and codirector of the cardiac catheterization lab at Scripps Memorial Hospital (La Jolla, CA); Eberhard Grube, MD, chief of cardiology and angiology at the Helios Herzzentrum Heart Center (Seigburg, Germany) and a consulting professor of medicine at Stanford University; Jean-Claude Laborde, MD, codirector of the interventional cardiology unit at Clinique Pasteur (Toulouse, France); Thierry Lefevre, MD, head of interventional cardiology and research at the Institut Cardiovasculaire Paris Sud at Institut Hospitalier Jacques Cartier (Massy, France); and Patrick W. Serruys, MD, chief of interventional cardiology at the Thoraxcenter–Erasmus University (Rotterdam, The Netherlands). Earlier this year, Stentys also appointed Luc Morisset as its director of regulatory affairs. Previously, Morisset was director of regulatory affairs for MedPass International (Paris), which assists manufacturers in bringing new medical technologies to the European market.

As part of the continuing integration of its 2005 acquisition of Ocular Sciences Inc., Cooper Companies Inc. (Lake Forest, CA) is combining its CooperVision and Cooper Companies headquarters operations and announced several management changes. Robert S. Weiss, Cooper's executive vice president and chief operating officer, has assumed additional duties as president of CooperVision Inc. He will have direct responsibility for CooperVision's worldwide business and for CooperSurgical, the company's women's health medical device business. Steven M. Neil, vice president and chief financial officer, has been named executive vice president and chief financial officer. His expanded role will include overseeing the integration of CooperVision's financial and information technology functions into the company's headquarters' operations. In conjunction with the restructuring, CooperVision president Gregory A. Fryling will be leaving the company to pursue other opportunities. Separately, A. Thomas Bender, Cooper's chairman and CEO, has announced his intent to relinquish his role as CEO by the end of 2007. Cooper's board is considering both internal and external candidates to succeed Bender, who expects to have a continuing role in the company.

Laparoscopic systems manufacturer Viking Systems Inc. (San Diego) has promoted Stephen M. Heniges to senior vice president of global marketing and clinical development. Previously vice president of corporate accounts and international business at Viking Systems, Heniges replaces Lonna J. Williams, senior vice president of commercial operations, who has left the company to pursue other interests. In his new position at Viking Systems, Heniges will be responsible for the strategic and operational leadership of Viking's global marketing, clinical development, and international operations, as well as the development, launch, and promotion of new and existing surgical solutions.

Mark Kramer, former director of the FDA Office of Combination Products, has joined GE Healthcare (Chalfont St. Giles, UK) as vice president of regulatory affairs. The company reports that Kramer, who will lead the regulatory function for medical devices across GE Healthcare, brings more than 17 years of experience from FDA, as well as insight on regulatory affairs and quality compliance relating to product development from positions in the private sector. During his tenure at FDA, he also served as special assistant to the associate commissioner for planning, director of the staff college at the Center for Devices and Radiological Health, chief of the anesthesiology and defibrillator devices branch, and chief of the urology and lithotripsy devices branch.

Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (Irvine, CA) has appointed four new corporate officers, each of whom already held a position with the company. Previously vice president and general manager of transcatheter mitral repair and vice president of corporate strategy, Donald E. Bobo Jr. has been named corporate vice president for heart valve therapy. In this role, he is responsible for the surgical heart valve business, including tissue replacement and repair devices. John P. McGrath, PhD, has been named corporate vice president for quality. McGrath joined Edwards in 2006 as vice president of quality, prior to which he served as vice president of quality at Cordis Corp. (Miami Lakes, FL), a Johnson & Johnson company. In addition, Carlyn Solomon has been named corporate vice president for critical care. Solomon is responsible for the general operations of Edwards' critical care business unit. Prior to joining Edwards in June 2005, Solomon held several positions in the bioscience division at Baxter International Inc. (Deerfield, IL). Finally, Larry Wood—who has been with the Edwards organization since 1985—has been named corporate vice president for transcatheter valve replacement.

Shimadzu Corp. (Kyoto, Japan) has named Takeshi Kawami president of its American subsidiary, Shimadzu Scientific Instruments (Columbia, MD). A 24-year Shimadzu veteran, he replaces Osamu Ando, who served as president for seven years. Shimadzu is a $2 billion multinational corporation with three major divisions: medical diagnostics, aerospace and industrial products, and analytical instruments. Its American subsidiary provides analytical solutions to laboratories in North, Central, and parts of South America.

Innovative Biosensors Inc. (College Park, MD), a privately held company developing techniques for the rapid detection of pathogens, has expanded its senior management team. It has hired Joanne Stephenson as head of strategic marketing and Richard Thomas as vice president of business development. Stephenson most recently served as vice president of business development and sales and marketing at Response Biomedical Corp. (Burnaby, BC, Canada). Thomas recently served as vice president of government programs for Sceptor Industries Inc. (Kansas City, MO).

Scivanta Medical Corp. (Spring Lake, NJ) has appointed Lawrence M. Levy and Anthony Giordano III to its board of directors. Levy has been senior counsel at international law firm Brown Rudnick Berlack Israels LLP since February 2005, prior to which he spent more than 30 years as a partner at the firm. Giordano serves as the executive vice president, chief financial officer, treasurer, and assistant secretary of Central Jersey Bancorp.

Medical technology developer Biophan Technologies Inc. (Rochester, NY) has appointed Bonnie Labosky to its board of directors. Labosky is currently president and CEO of Cardiac Concepts Inc. (Minneapolis). She was previously group vice president for Welch Allyn Inc. (Skaneateles Falls, NY) and vice president and general manager of the heart failure division of Medtronic (Minneapolis).

Endovascular device manufacturer ev3 Inc. (Plymouth, MN) has appointed Daniel J. Levangie to its board of directors and audit committee. Levangie is president of the surgical products division and an executive vice president and board member for Cytyc Corp. (Marlborough, MA).