GPC Biotech (Martinsried, Germany) has named Prabhavathi Fernandes to its supervisory board. Dr. Fernandes most recently served as CEO of Ricerca Biosciences, and was previously a founder and CEO of Small Molecule Therapeutics, which merged with Morphochem in 2000.

Amylin Pharmaceuticals (San Diego, CA, USA) has named Ginger L. Graham president and CEO, effective September 1, 2003. Ms. Graham most recently served as group chairman in the office of the president of Guidant.

Loretta M. Itri has been promoted to the position of president, pharmaceutical development at Genta (Berkeley Heights, NJ, USA). She was formerly executive vice president, clinical research and development. She replaces Raymond P. Warrell, Jr. in the role of president. Dr. Warrell will continue in his role as Genta's chairman and CEO.

Exelixis (S. San Francisco, CA, USA) has announced the appointment of Steven P. James as senior vice president, commercial operations. Mr. James joins Exelixis from Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, where he served most recently as chief business officer.

Jan Johansson has been named chief medical officer and vice president, clinical affairs at Nuvelo (Sunnyvale, CA, USA). Dr. Johansson joins the company from Lipid Sciences, where he was vice president, clinical research and development. He also cofounded Esperion Therapeutics, where he served as vice president, clinical affairs and senior clinical research fellow.

Aradigm (Hayward, CA, USA) has announced that V. Bryan Lawlis has added the title of president to his current position of chief operating officer. Former president Richard Thompson will continue as CEO and chairman of the board. In addition, the company announced it has appointed Bobba Venkatadri to the newly created position of senior vice president of operations. Mr. Venkatadri joins Aradigm from Diosynth RTP, where he was executive vice president of operations.

Sociologist and author Dorothy Nelkin died last month from cancer at her home in New York. A professor at New York University, her work focused on the uneasy relationship between science and society. She wrote or cowrote 26 books, including Selling Science: How the Press Covers Science and Technology, The DNA Mystique: The Gene as a Cultural Icon and Body Bazaar: The Market for Human Tissue in the Biotechnology Age. She also served as an adviser to the Human Genome Project. She was 69 years old.

Esperion Therapeutics (Ann Arbor, MI, USA) has announced the appointment of Adeoye Y. Olukotun as senior vice president of clinical and regulatory affairs. Dr. Olukotun will also serve as the company's chief medical officer. He is the founder and CEO of CR Strategies, a clinical R&D consulting firm, and was previously vice president of medical and regulatory affairs and chief medical officer for Mallinckrodt.

Bernd Rosenkranz has been appointed vice president, clinical development, and Rainer Kramer has been appointed vice president, business development at Jerini (Berlin, Germany). Dr. Rosenkranz has held senior functions in clinical pharmacology at Hoechst Marion Roussel (now Aventis), and was chief medical officer and chief scientific officer at 3ClinicalResearch. Dr. Kramer most recently served as senior director of the business development group at MorphoSys.

Thomas Schulze has been appointed chief executive officer at Avontec (Göttingen, Germany). He replaces the company's cofounder, Markus Hecker, who will remain as a member of its supervisory board. Dr. Schulze joins Avontec from November AG, where he served as chief operating officer.

EpiGenesis Pharmaceuticals (Princeton, NJ, USA) has named Daniel Soland president and CEO. Mr. Soland previously served ten years with GlaxoSmithKline in varying roles, including vice president of the US pharmaceuticals biological business unit and vice president and director of worldwide marketing operations for biologicals.

METabolic EXplorer (Clermont-Ferrand, France) has appointed Philippe Soucaille to the position of chief scientific officer. He is a world-renowned professor at the French National Institute for Applied Sciences (INSA), and was previously senior scientist and project leader at Genencor International.

Praveen Tyle has been appointed group vice president, pharmaceutical sciences and manufacturing at Biovail (Toronto, ON, Canada). Dr. Tyle joins the company from Pharmacia (now Pfizer), where he most recently served as vice president and global head of pharmaceutical sciences.