Ins & Outs: Ex-Lonza CEO joins Recipharm, plus changes at Moderna

Marc Funk has joined CDMO Recipharm as its new CEO, while Moderna pinches Novartis’s chief legal officer. Meanwhile, there are high level changes at Univercells Technologies. It’s lovely to have you here for another BioProcess Insider’s, Ins & Outs.

This week, Marc Funk announced on LinkedIn  that he has joined Recipharm as CEO. Funk has replaced contract development manufacturing organization (CDMO) Recipharm’s former CEO, Thomas Eldered who had held this position since 2008.

“It is a great pleasure to be the CEO of Recipharm. The company has a remarkable history, having grown from a single manufacturing plant to a leading CDMO partner to the pharma and biotech industry,” said Funk. “I intend to build on this impressive legacy of success with a new phase of growth.”

Image/iStock: zakokor

Funk previously served as CEO for Lonza, however he stepped down from his position after just nine months due to personal reasons.

In a statement sent to BioProcess Insider, Recipharm said: “Recipharm has announced the appointment of Marc Funk as the new CEO of Recipharm. Thomas Eldered remains on the board of directors and will continue to be involved at a high level.

“Marc brings with him a wealth of experience in the CDMO industry having formerly worked at Lonza and Merck. As the new CEO of Recipharm he will lead our team to drive a new phase of growth at Recipharm by meeting market opportunity with strong capabilities.”

Moderna

Last week, Moderna appointed Shannon Thyme Klinger as its chief legal officer effective as of June 1,  2021. Klinger will also take position as corporate secretary, which will see her report to CEO, Stéphane Bancel and serve on the company’s executive committee.

“Shannon’s deep global experience in the pharmaceutical industry in both the general counsel and ethics and compliance roles are critical to Moderna as we pivot to a broad international and commercial footprint,” said Stéphane Bancel, “Her combination of skills across corporate, life sciences, pharmaceutical technology, commercial and multi-national sectors, and her passion for ESG and public health will help Moderna advance our core technology platform, engage critical partners across the globe and help us expand and capitalize on our growing international presence.”

Klinger will join the company from Novartis where she has held position of chief legal officer since 2018. Klinger also served as chief ethics and compliance officer and global head of litigation during her ten-year tenure at the firm.

Univercells Technologies

Univercells Technologies has named Mathias Garny as its new CEO. According to the firm, Garny has successfully overseen “the Univercells Technologies’ operations and lead the strategy development and implementation.”

“Mathias joined Univercells in 2015 as chief financial officer to conduct Univercells’ financial strategy and fundraising activities,” a spokesperson told BioProcess Insider. “He then acted as a chief commercial officer from 2017 and played a key role in the company’s development and commercialization efforts of its technology portfolio including the scale-X single-use bioreactors range and the NevoLine biomanufacturing platform.”

This month, the firm announced High Purity New England (HPNE) will market and sell its products in the US after the two firms entered an agreement.