Santhera expands senior management team with several appointments

Swiss pharma company Santhera (SIX: SWX) has expanded its leadership team, appointing existing senior staff members Nicholas Coppard as senior vice president head of development, Günther Metz as senior vice president business development, and Oliver Strub, general counsel and secretary to the board.

In addition to this, Giovanni Stropoli has been appointed as chief commercial officer for Europe and rest of world, joining the company from InterMune.

Thomas Meier, chief executive of Santhera, said: "I am very pleased about the Board's appointments of highly experienced, fully committed and long-term colleagues to the Executive Management and I am excited to welcome Giovanni to Santhera. Together we will ensure the optimal preparation for a successful EU market launch of Raxone (idebenone) in its first indication Leber's Hereditary Optic Neuropathy. We are committed to advancing Santhera as a prominent specialty pharma company dedicated to the development and commercialization of urgently needed therapies to improve the lives of patients suffering from orphan neuromuscular and mitochondrial diseases."