September 2025 • PharmaTimes Magazine • 36-37
// YOUR MOVES //
Your Moves
Movers of the Month
AstriVax Therapeutics, a clinical stage immunotherapy company developing novel treatments for chronic infections based on its proprietary Launch-iT technology, has announced the appointment of Dieter Weinand as Chair of the Board of Directors, effective 12 June 2025.
Dieter is the former Chief Executive Officer of Bayer Pharma AG with more than 25 years of experience as a senior business leader in the pharmaceutical industry. He takes over from Dr Jeanne Bolger, who has served as Chair since 2022 and will remain on the Board as a non-executive independent director.
The appointment follows the recent announcement by AstriVax Therapeutics that it has initiated its second Phase 1 clinical trial to evaluate the safety, tolerability and immunogenicity of AVX70371 for chronic hepatitis B virus infection.
Dr Hanne Callewaert, co-founder and CEO of AstriVax Therapeutics, said: "On behalf of the entire AstriVax Therapeutics team and our Board, I would like to welcome Dieter Weinand as our new Chair. Dieter brings with him a phenomenal amount of experience as a global pharmaceutical leader. He shares our entrepreneurial drive and our mission to improve the lives of patients affected by chronic diseases."
Dieter said: "AstriVax Therapeutics’ Launch-iT technology platform and its immunotherapy drug candidates for the treatment of chronic infectious diseases are extremely impressive and I am very excited to be joining at this significant moment in the company’s journey."
Abcuro Inc, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing therapies for the treatment of autoimmune diseases and cancer through precise modulation of cytotoxic T cells, has announced the appointment of George Eldridge as chief financial officer.
George brings more than 30 years of executive leadership experience in finance and business operations across the biotechnology industry.
Alex Martin, chief executive officer, said: “George brings industry-leading financial expertise that will be essential to Abcuro as we prepare for a pivotal clinical data readout for our lead asset, ulviprubart. We are delighted to further strengthen our leadership team with George’s appointment and look forward to working with him and build on our strong financial position to advance ulviprubart.”
George has more than three decades of experience fundraising, taking companies public, facilitating mergers and acquisitions, and establishing critical financial operations throughout his career.
He most recently served as CFO of Aerovate Therapeutics, notably guiding the company through its successful initial public offering (IPO) in 2021 and subsequent reverse merger with Jade Biosciences in 2025.
George said: “I am honoured to join Abcuro and look forward to working closely with the leadership team to deliver on our mission to develop potentially life-transforming treatments for patients with devastating diseases like IBM.”
Arcinova, a Quotient Sciences company and UK-based contract research development and manufacturing organisation (CRDMO), has announced the appointment of Dr Christian Dowdeswell as new Managing Director.
He takes the reins from co-founder and Managing Director Paul Ryan, who recently announced his retirement.
Christian joins the firm at a busy time for the business, which has recently relaunched with a refreshed brand identity and a renewed focus on delivering integrated drug substance and early drug product services to global biotech and pharmaceutical partners.
More recently, the company has enhanced its aseptic capabilities to ensure full compliance with the latest Annex 1 requirements, further strengthening its ability to support complex and high-quality manufacturing needs.
Commenting on his appointment, Christian said: "Arcinova has an outstanding reputation for innovation, agility and scientific excellence – qualities our clients depend on. Paul has built a strong foundation for success and I’m committed to building on that momentum, driving growth while keeping our customers at the heart of everything we do."
Bringing over 25 years of sector experience to his role, Christian joins Arcinova from consulting and advisory positions with companies including Nanoform and Pangaea Life Sciences.
Sharon Curran has been appointed as the new chairperson for Rosemont Pharmaceuticals board of directors.
The company manufactures and specialises in novel Rx oral liquid medicines for patients who have difficulty swallowing due to conditions such as dysphagia, stroke or dementia.
Sharon has held extensive senior and executive leadership roles in healthcare including non-executive board positions at businesses across Europe and the United States, notably AbbVie in Chicago.
Her experience includes leading high impact global marketing, commercialisation and growth strategies for world class pharmaceutical corporations.
Her appointment is part of Rosemont’s expansion into the global and US market following the acquisition of US based Sabal Therapeutics in 2024. The company already has partnerships across North America including Canada, Middle East and Asia.
Rosemont’s Interim Chief Executive Tim Busby said: “All of us at Rosemont are looking forward to working with Sharon as she brings her global knowledge and experience to the business.
“We are confident her expertise will be invaluable as we continue our expansion globally and across the US and strive towards treating more patients who need liquid medicines to maintain their health.”
Rosemont was acquired by the private equity firm Inflexion in 2020 and has increasingly been looking to expand outside of the UK and into other markets since then.
PhoreMost, a next-generation targeted protein degradation (TPD) company progressing a pipeline of degrader therapeutics within oncology and inflammation, today announced the appointment of Dr Adam Gilbert to its Scientific Advisory Board.
In the role, Adam will support PhoreMost to advance its portfolio of novel small molecule degraders and molecular glues arising from its GlueSEEKER platform.
Most recently an executive director and external accelerator lead at Pfizer, Adam brings over 30 years of experience in biopharma, drug discovery and business development.
In his numerous roles at Pfizer, Adam led the Design and Synthesis Sciences platform medicinal chemistry group to successfully deliver targeted covalent inhibitors, protein homeostasis modulators and vaccine antigens.
He is co–inventor of LITFULO™ (Ritlecitinib), a covalent JAK3/TEC inhibitor recently approved to treat alopecia areata, and his group helped deliver ABRYSVO™ (RSVPreF), a preventative respiratory syncytial virus vaccine, and COMIRNATY® (BNT162b2), the Pfizer–BioNTech mRNA COVID-19 vaccine.
Adam holds a PhD in organic chemistry from Columbia University.
Dr Christian Dillon, CSO, PhoreMost, said: “Adam’s extensive experience and expertise in drug discovery, especially as a KOL in the targeted protein degradation field, will be invaluable in advancing our pipeline of novel degraders in both oncology and inflammation. His proven track record in delivering new therapeutics to market will be pivotal as we progress into clinical stages.”
Crescent Biopharma, a biotechnology company dedicated to rapidly advancing the next wave of therapies for cancer patients, today announced the appointment of Jan Pinkas as chief scientific officer.
Jan brings more than two decades of experience in oncology drug development, leading preclinical and translational research with expertise in multiple modalities including antibody–drug conjugates.
Joshua Brumm, CEO at Crescent, said: “Jan joins us at an important time as we progress our first two programmes towards the clinic. In early 2026, we expect to be dosing patients in a global phase 1 trial of CR-001, our PD-1 x VEGF bispecific antibody, and anticipate an IND submission in the middle of next year for one of our novel ADCs, CR-002. The addition of Jan underscores Crescent’s commitment to become a leader in delivering the next wave of cancer therapies.”
Prior to joining Crescent, Jan was chief scientific officer at Pyxis Oncology, where he established the preclinical research and development function to support ADC and antibody programmes through Investigational New Drug (IND)–enabling studies and led the translational medicine group.
Earlier in his career, he held scientist roles focused on oncology research at Amgen and Genzyme.
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