Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Of Inovio -- I Hadn't Realized Just How Many Ex-Merck Leaders Landed There


A week ago, I noted that Dr. Mark L. Bagarazzi had joined Inovio, as Chief Medical Officer.

I just ran across another press-item, in which I learned that the current CEO, and a board member -- Dr. Joseph Kim, is also fairly-recently ex-Merck-ified.

Moreover, another board member is also recently ex-Merck (Vaccines): Simon Benito.

So Dr. Bagarazzi makes at least three very senior leaders of Inovio, with deep Merck roots -- thus, from Inovio's last SEC-filed proxy (pages 3 to 4):

. . . .J. Joseph Kim, PH.D. joined Inovio as Chief Executive Officer and a director on June 1, 2009 in connection with the Merger. A co-founder of VGX Pharmaceuticals and its former President, Chief Executive Officer and a director from 2000 to June 2009, Dr. Kim is a veteran of the biopharmaceutical industry. Prior to VGX, Dr. Kim led efforts in manufacturing and process development of several FDA-approved products and developmental therapeutics at Merck. These products include FDA-approved vaccines for Hepatitis as well as developmental vaccines and therapeutics for HIV/AIDS. . . . He holds a Ph.D. in Biochemical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School.

Simon X. Benito has been a director of Inovio since December 2003. Prior to his retirement, Mr. Benito had a successful and extensive career serving several health care companies in senior executive positions, including 25 years at Merck & Co, Inc. His most recent positions included Senior Vice President, Merck Vaccine Division; Executive Vice President, Merck-Medco Managed Care; and Executive Director and Vice President, Merck Human Health, Japan. Since April 2005, Mr. Benito has served as a director of DURECT Corporation, a publicly traded specialty pharmaceutical company. . . .

This will be one to watch.

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