Date: 2014-09-08
Type of information: Nomination
Compound:
Company: Acucela (USA - WA)
Therapeutic area: Ophtalmological diseases
Type agreement:
Action mechanism:
Disease:
Details: * On September 8, 2014, Acucela , a clinical-stage biotechnology company that specializes in discovering and developing novel therapeutics to treat and slow the progression of sight-threatening ophthalmic diseases, announced that after a long and thoughtful strategic planning process to recruit a new President and Chief Operating Officer (COO), the company has appointed Brian O’Callaghan, who currently sits on Acucela’s Board of Directors, to the newly created position, effective immediately. Ryo Kubota, MD, PhD, who is also Acucela’s Founder, will remain as Acucela’s Chairman of the Board (Chairman) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO). In a separate development, Acucela’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), David Lowrance, will be leaving the Company for family reasons. Mr. Lowrance resigned his position as Acucela’s CFO, effective September 4, 2014, and his last date of employment with the Company is September 19, 2014. Mr. Lowrance has agreed to provide consulting services to facilitate an orderly transition. As a result of Mr. Lowrance’s departure, Mr. O’Callaghan will also assume the role of Interim CFO. An active search is underway to appoint a new CFO. Brian O’Callaghan has served on the Company’s Board of Directors since September 2013. He was most recently Chairman and CEO of Sonrgy Inc., a San Diego-based biotechnology company. Previous to Sonrgy, Mr. O’Callaghan served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Sangart Inc. and as a member of Sangart’s Board of Directors. Mr. O’Callaghan has also held the position of Chief Commercial Officer at NPS Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he led important corporate strategic initiatives, and as General Manager of two global divisions of Covance Inc., where he was successful in restructuring and rebuilding two core business units. At Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, Mr. O’Callaghan served as General Manager of their North American Transplantation & Immunology Division, as well as their Infectious Diseases Division. Mr. O’Callaghan co-founded a biopharmaceutical company, BioPartners, in Switzerland; served as General Manager of Merck Biopharmaceuticals in Germany. He currently serves on a number of Boards, including BIOCOM, Aquavit Biopharma and the San Diego Century Club.
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