Pharmaceutical outsourcing: people on the move

Source: Outsourcing-pharma.com

Hyaluron, PPD, Parexel, MDS Pharma Services, Kendle and ClinPhone have all had people on the move in the world of pharmaceutical outsourcing in May.

Hyaluron Contract Manufacturing (HCM), which specialises in aseptic formulation and filling of liquid parenteral drugs, has created a new position of vice president of quality and has chosen Robert Haggerty to fulfil the role.

Under his new position, Haggerty will be responsible for overseeing quality and regulatory compliance at the company's Burlington, Massachusetts facility.

Most recently, Haggerty was the director of quality assurance at Alexion Pharmaceuticals where he was in charge of quality assurance start-up activities at its new biotech facility. Previously, he held positions at Ben Venue, Dupont Merck, and Transkaryotic Therapies (now Shire).

Meanwhile, contract research organization (CRO) Parexel has named Joe Avellone corporate vice president of clinical research operations in North and Latin America.

Avellone will lead operational aspects of the company's Phase II-IV clinical development programmes for clients, including project management, clinical operations, and management of the Americas Medical Affairs group, Parexel said.

Prior to joining the firm, Avellone was the former chief executive officer of Veritas Medicine, a healthcare technology company supporting clinical research trials.

Another big player in the CRO arena has announced new HR changes in the past month. Pennsylvania-based MDS Pharma Services has appointed James Pusey as vice president and general manager of the company's global clinical development business, which manages late-stage clinical drug trials.

Pusey was previously CEO of biotech company OrthoLogic and prior to that role, he was executive vice-president for Neurology at Serono, where he was responsible for late-stage drug development, including co-development projects with Pfizer.

In addition, he has held the positions of vice-president of marketing and therapeutic area leader for central nervous system, pain and infection at AstraZeneca in the US.

Still in the clinical outsourcing space, Kendle has promoted Patricia Steigerwald to vice president of the company's global late phase business. In her new role, Steigerwald's objective will be to drive continued growth of the Late Phase brand globally, with a focus on Phase IIIb and IV trials, health economics and outcomes research.

She has more than 20 years of CRO and clinical experience and was most recently senior director of the segment.

And last but not least, UK eClinical firm ClinPhone has recently appointed Michael Smyth as vice president of product management in its trial management solutions group. The trial management solutions group includes ClinPhone's CTMS, site manager and e-learning products.

Smyth will work from ClinPhone's New Jersey office in the US where he will work with the development and sales team to add functionality to the products, manage client relationships and understand market needs.

He will also be responsible for increasing the overall presence of the company's trial management solutions within the global market.

Before working for ClinPhone, Smyth held a number of senior positions at several organisations, including business development director at Premier Research and most recently, head of global strategic accounts with VivoMetrics.