Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - November/December 2007 - (Page 10) 10 News & Analysis Nov/Dec 2007 Pharmaceutical Executive Europe FINANCE Cosmetics firm L’Oreal (France) has sold a 1.8% stake in Sanofi-aventis (France) for €1.5 billion. L’Oreal has now reduced its ownership share of sanofi to 8.7%. Wyeth (US) is investing more than €24 million in a pharmaceutical development centre at its Newbridge (Ireland) plant, creating 20 new R&D positions over the next three years. FORMAC Pharmaceuticals N.V. (Belgium) has raised €1.7 million to start up a new drug delivery business focused on the development of improved oral formulations of small organic drug compounds. Allegro Investment Fund, Hunza Ventures, Gemma Frisius Fonds K.U.Leuven II and Vinnof led the financing round. Ablynx (Belgium) has successfully completed its initial public offering (IPO) at €7.00 per share and has been listed on Eurolist by Euronext Brussels under the symbol “ABLX”. Private equity firm Matrix (UK) has financed the management buy-out (MBO) of Focus Pharmaceuticals (UK). Matrix invested £3.2 million in a mix of debt and equity, and has acquired a minority stake in the business. SantoSolve AS (Norway) has raised $7 million in a new financing round. The investments have been made by the Norwegian investors DnBNor, Gezina and Glastad Invest, together with existing investors Teknoinvest and InnovationsKapital. Pharming Group NV (the Netherlands) has raised €70 million through the issue of senior unsecured convertible bonds due 2012. The issue was managed by UBS Investment Bank. Coley Pharmaceutical Group, Inc (US) has received a $3.0 million milestone payment from GlaxoSmithKline (UK) associated with the initiation of GSK’s Phase III clinical trial in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) of an immunotherapeutic cancer vaccine containing Coley’s VaxImmune vaccine adjuvant. ON THE MOVE The European Generic medicines Association (EGA) has elected Eric Gorka, head commercial operations EMEA for Sandoz International, as its new president. Mr Gorka, who has already served for several years as vice president of the EGA, succeeds Emile Loof, president of Pharmachemie/TEVA (the Netherlands), who had served in the position since 2004. Molecular Partners AG (Switzerland) has appointed Jörn Aldag, president and CEO of Evotec (Germany), as president of the board. Theraptosis (France) has announced the appointment of Dr Olivier Chesnoy as CEO and chairman of the board. This appointment will allow Etienne Jacotot, co-founder of Theraptosis, to focus fully on CSO activities. Interbrand Wood Healthcare (US) has announced the appointment of Jane Parker as CEO. She will be based in New York and will be responsible for managing and building the business across the global network. She succeeds David Wood, who founded the company in 1985; he will step into the role of chairman. 7TM Pharma A/S (Denmark) has named Peter Chambré, a former CEO of Cambridge Antibody Technology (“CAT”; UK) chairman of the board. He succeeds Paul Nicholson, who passed away in August this year. Lab21 (UK) has announced the appointment of Graham Mullis as its new CEO. Graham joins Lab21 from Optivue Ltd (UK), where he is a co-founder. Amira Pharmaceuticals has appointed Isabelle Raizon-Ounis, MD, to the role of vice president of development. Dr Raizon-Ounis most recently served as a clinical research & licensing executive with Roche Palo Alto. Anke Linnartz is to assume responsibility for managing the Investor Relations Department of Gerresheimer AG (Germany) from January 1, 2008. She will report to Gerresheimer CFO Hans-Jurgen Wiecha. Penn Pharmaceutical Services Ltd (UK) has launched a new company, Penn Pharmaceutical Services US Inc, and has appointed Paul Wituschek as director of Business Development to drive the company’s growth in North America. Penn Pharmaceutical Services US Inc will be based in Philadelphia. David Mott, CEO and president of MedImmune (US), has joined the board of Shire plc (UK) as a non-executive director. As MedImmune was acquired by AstraZeneca earlier this year, Mr Mott is also now serving as executive vice president of AZ and as a member of AZ’s Senior Executive Team. Harry Stratford, the co-founder of ProStrakan (UK), is to stand down as the company’s chairman at the end of this year; he will be replaced by Peter Allen, who has been a non-executive director of the group since 2005. WIN WITH DHL HEALTHCARE. Take part in our latest online survey today for your chance to win a stylish iPod Nano! Just visit: Sponsored by: www.dhl-healthcare.com http://www.dhl-healthcare.com http://www.dhl-healthcare.com
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