Avita Medical (ASX:AVH) said last week it tapped former Novartis (NYSE:NVS) global biz dev & licensing chief scientific officer Dr. Michael Perry as its new chief executive officer, replacing resigning CEO Adam Kelliher.
Dr. Perry served as a non-exec director of Avita since Feb 2013, according to the company, and held positions with Novartis including chief scientific officer of various units and VP of its integrated hospital care franchise and stem cell therapy global head. He has also served as bioscience R&D global head of Baxter (NYSE:BAX), regulatory affairs VP at Sandoz Pharma and Syntex Corp as well as chair, CEO and CMO at several early stage biotech companies.
The company said it made a decision to retain a US-based CEO after the board determined the company’s achievement of US-based milestones would drive company value, and London-based Kelliher elected to not relocate and resigned from his position. Avita said Kelliher will stay on as a consultant to the board.
“We are most grateful to Mr Kelliher for his significant contributions to Avita during his tenure. He oversaw a diversity of critical company achievements; most notably progress of our clinical programs, strategic capital raises and continued progress on our BARDA contract. We are also appreciative of the keen focus and energy he brings to his work, qualities we are sure he will apply in his future endeavours. Mike’s expertise across the value chain in cell therapy along with his experience in business development, regulatory affairs and general management will be crucial to Avita’s future success. These fundamental attributes complemented by his US presence, will maximize Avita’s prospects as the company progresses through PMA submission, FDA review and preparation for large-scale product commercialization,” chairman Lou Panaccio said in a press release.
NuVasive’s specialized ortho CEO Roschak steps away
NuVasive Inc. (NSDQ:NUVA) said this week that its specialized orthopedics CEO Edmund Roschak will step down from his position at the company.
Roschak joined the company in Feb. 2016 when NuVasive acquired Ellipse Technologies for $410 million. Roschak previously served as CEO of Ellipse Technologies.
NuVasive has not yet stated if it is searching for a replacement for the position.
TransEnterix promotes Fernando to COO
TransEnterix (NYSE:TRXC) said this month that it has appointed Anthony Fernando as its chief operating officer.
The company said that Fernando will continue to be employed pursuant to a previously inked employment agreement in 2015, when he was brought on to lead the company’s SOFAR integration.
Prior to joining NuVasive in 2015, Fernando held positions at Stryker (NYSE:SYK), Becton Dickinson (NYSE:BDX) , PerkinElmer Inc.‘s (NYSE:PKI) and Varian Medical (NYSE:VAR).
Avalere adds ex-FDA chief of staff Kraus, 2 others to team
Avalere Health said this week it has tapped former FDA chief of staff Tom Kraus as commercialization and regulatory team lead, with Nancy Beck and Ernest Voyard joining as directors of the group.
Beck previously served as program director at the Reagan-Udall foundation for the FDA, while Voyard was senior director of regulatory affairs at the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
“FDA regulatory policy is increasingly important in the context of establishing competitive markets for medical products in the US and around the world, with the ultimate goal of delivering value for patients. As the healthcare system moves towards quality and value-based payments, our clients are increasingly integrating analytic approaches to regulatory strategy, which is a major focus of our work,” prez Dan Mendelson said in a prepared statement.
Polaris Partners vet Bitterman jumps ship for Atlas Venture
Atlas Venture said this month that former Poalris Partner life science team member Kevin Bitterman will be joining Atlas as a partner.
Bitterman was a founding CEO of gene editing company Editas Medicine, and served as founder and chief exec of other biotech startups including Visterra and Morphic Therapeutic, according to Atlas Ventures.