Dr. Kleanthis Xanthopoulos

First off this week and its over to Big Pharma, more specifically, Novartis. John Symonds, who has been the Chief Financial Officer at the corporation for the last four years, is to step down.Symonds was partner and managing director of Goldman Sachs Group before joining Novartis in 2009 and has also had eight years of experience as CFO at AstraZeneca.Symonds will be replaced by 48-year-old Harry Kirsch who has been with the company ten years, coming from being CFO at Proctor & Gamble's pharmaceutical business.And Novartis has recently been trying to acquire Hikma’s injectable business. Read about it here.To Teva next and the Israeli Generics Company has established a Global Specialty Medicines Group and has appointed Dr. Rob Koremans to lead it in the capacity of President and CEO.Koremans, who has been President and CEO of Teva Europe since last year, has had a series of high-end roles at companies including Sanofi, Grunenthal and the Serono Group, said: “Teva’s unique capabilities in Specialty pharmaceuticals are now concentrated in the new GSM group, so we can deliver more effectively on our commitment to our patients and other stakeholders.”In related news, Dipankar Bhattacharjee, formerly Senior Vice President Western Europe, has been promoted to the position of President and CEO of Generics Europe and Larry Downey, formerly Executive Vice President of Teva US Brands, has been appointed President, North America Specialty Medicines.And follow the latest developments between Teva and Lonza on their biosimilars joint venture here.Regulatory news next and Agneta Brandt has been appointed as the new Head of Infrastructure Services at the European Medecines Agency (EMA).Previously the Marketing Director of Swedish company Arken, Brandt has over twenty years of experience in property management.And the EMA was in the news last week, upgrading its database to increase safety of the EU supply chain. Catch the article here.Anna Richo will join biopharmaceutical company UCB as Executive Vice President and General Counsel later on in the year, replacing Bob Trainor who has been in the role for nine years.Richo comes to UCB from Amgen where she served as Senior Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer since 2008, and prior to this she was at Baxter Healthcare Corporation for 12 years.Roch Doliveux, UCB’s CEO said: “I am very happy to welcome Anna’s wealth of legal and leadership qualities, which will be a great natural fit with the global teams Bob has led, as well as with UCB’s ongoing journey to becoming the patient-centric global biopharma leader.”And finally this week Zosano Pharma has announced the appointment of Dr. Kleanthis Xanthopoulos to its Board of Directors.Xanthopoulos, who is President and CEO of Regulus Therapeutics “is a veteran life sciences industry CEO whose extensive healthcare, execution and IPO experience will provide Zosano with valuable insight as we pursue potential public options for financing our extensive clinical development program,” according to Vikram Lamba, CEO of Zosano.

Dr. Kleanthis Xanthopoulos

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