Clavis Pharma appoints Athos Gianella-Borradori

Athos Gianella-Borradori has joined clinical stage oncology drug development company Clavis Pharma as chief medical officer.

His appointment to the Oslo, Norway based firm follows the death from cancer of Cavis’ former CMO Bo Nilsson earlier this month.

Nilsson joined Clavis in May 2007 and paying tribute the company’s chief executive Olav Hellebø said he was a valued colleague and friend to the entire Clavis Pharma family.

“He brought great knowledge and experience of cancer drug development to Clavis from a long and successful career in the pharmaceutical industry. Dr Nilsson has contributed greatly to the progress of our drug pipeline and we hope that many other cancer patients will benefit from his efforts in the future.”

His successor Dr Gianella-Borradori is an experienced onco-hematologist and drug developer, with 30 years experience in the field.

He has spent the past 20 years in industry holding managerial and senior clinical research and development roles at Novartis, Crucell, Bavarian Nordic, Cyclacel and, for the last five years, at Serono, later at Merck Serono (Switzerland).

During this time he has focused on translational research and on the clinical development of novel anti-cancer agents.