PHARMACEUTICAL firm ProStrakan has recruited prominent industry figure John Brown to chair its board as Peter Allen prepares to leave after overseeing the takeover of the Galashiels company by Japan's Kyowa Hakko Kirin.
The shake-up, which ProStrakan said is due to its successful integration into KHK over the last two years, will see Dr Allen, who has been a director since 2005, and fellow non-executive Michael Asbury leave on December 31.
Tom Stratford, chief executive of ProStrakan, said: "Peter and Mike have each been long-standing members of the ProStrakan board and, during their time with us, ProStrakan has grown significantly and transitioned from being a small independent company into an important part of Kyowa Hakko Kirin."
Dr Brown is chairman of Dundee University spin-out CXR Biosciences and London-based Cell Therapy Catapult as well as senior non-executive director of lung specialist Vectura.
He used to chair commercialisation company BTG. He was chairman of Scottish-Norwegian diagnostics company Axis-Shield when it fell to US company Alere.
Previously, as chief executive he oversaw the turnaround of smallpox vaccine firm Acambis, although his £1.8 million severance package when he left in 2004 raised eyebrows.
Dr Brown co-chairs the Scottish Government's life sciences industry advisory board and is chairman of the Roslin Foundation, which supports Edinburgh University's Roslin Institute.
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