Peter Fellner to become new Chairman of Acambis
Acambis announces that, effective from 1 October 2006, Alan Smith will retire as Chairman, and from the Board, of Acambis and will be succeeded by Dr Peter Fellner.
Alan Smith, 61, has been Chairman of Acambis since May 1999, having joined the Board as a Non-executive Director in November 1995. During his tenure as Chairman, he has overseen the development of Acambis from a small research and development organisation into an international vaccine company capable of taking a product through all the stages of development to licensure. Mr Smith announced in May that, based on good corporate governance guidance that a director should reside on a board for no more than 10 years, he would be standing down later in 2006.
Dr Peter Fellner, 62, joined the Acambis Board as a Non-executive Director in February 2006. He was Celltech's Chief Executive Officer from 1990 to 2003 and Chairman from 2003 until its acquisition by the biopharmaceutical company, UCB SA, in 2004. He is Chairman of two other UK biotechnology companies, Vernalis plc and Astex Therapeutics Limited, and a Non-executive Director of QinetiQ Group plc, Evotec AG and Bespak plc. He is also a member of the UK Medical Research Council.
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