Cerulean Pharma, a US-based pharmaceutical company developing a treatment for cancer centred around nanotechnology, has appointed Chris Guiffre as senior vice president and chief business officer, the latter a newly created position.
Guiffre was hired from biopharmaceutical company Alvos Therapeutics where he served as president and chief executive officer. Before Alvos he held executive positions at Hydra Biosciences, Cubist Pharmaceuticals and IT consulting firm Renaissance Worldwide, prior to its acquisition by recruitment agency Aquent.
The hiring follows a $15m series D round raised by Cerulean last month from backers including Eli Lilly. Cerulean is aiming to complete clinical trials for its nanopharmaceutical cancer treatment, and to expand into other areas of molecular therapeutics.
Oliver Fetzer, chief executive officer of Cerulean, said: "We are pleased to have Chris join Cerulean and lead our business development and partnering activities at an exciting time in our corporate evolution. Chris is a seasoned pharmaceutical executive, and his wealth of business and transactional experience will be highly valuable as Cerulean accelerates its corporate development activities in 2012 and beyond."