Management tracks: Acceleron, Selecta

Acceleron Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ:XLRN) said EVP and CMO Matthew Sherman will retire after the company reports top-line data mid-year from the Phase III MEDALIST and BELIEVE trials of luspatercept (ACE-536) to treat lower-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and beta-thalassemia, respectively. The rare disease company is seeking a successor.

Immunology company Selecta Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ:SELB) said President and CEO Werner Cautreels will retire, effective Dec. 31, 2018. Selecta is seeking a successor. The company also appointed Omid Farokhzad chairman of the board.

OraSure Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:OSUR) said President and CEO Douglas Michels will retire, effective April 1. He is succeeded by Stephen Tang, a board member. Tang was president and CEO of The University City Science Center (Philadelphia, Pa.). The diagnostics company also said COO and CFO Ronald Spair will retire this year at an undetermined date.

Infectious disease company Spero Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:SPRO) hired David Melnick as CMO. He was VP of clinical development for anti-infectives at Allergan plc (NYSE:AGN).

Gastrointestinal company OrphoMed Inc. (Mill Valley, Calif.) hired Mark Sostek as CMO. He was global medical lead and senior director of the clinical research, immunology and inflammation research unit at Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE).

Pain company Recro Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ:REPH) promoted Michael Celano to COO from CFO and Ryan Lake to CFO from Chief Accounting Officer.

Axcella Health Inc. (Cambridge, Mass.) appointed David Epstein as chairman. Epstein is executive partner at Flagship Pioneering and was CEO at the Novartis Pharmaceuticals unit of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS; SIX:NOVN). Axcella develops amino acid-based therapeutics.

Protein misfolding company Proclara Biosciences Inc. (Cambridge, Mass.) hired David Michelson as CMO. He was VP and therapeutic area head for clinical research in neuroscience, pain, anesthesiology and ophthalmology at Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE:MRK).

Cancer company Verastem Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM) hired Joseph Lobacki as chief commercial officer and EVP. He was COO at Finch Therapeutics Group (Somerville, Mass.).

Biosimilars company JHL Biotech Inc. (TPEx-E:6540) hired Rong Chen as CMO. He was CMO at Phagelux Inc. (Shanghai, China). In December, JHL said it will voluntarily delist from the Taipei Exchange.

Syntimmune Inc. (New York, N.Y.) said CEO David de Graaf has stepped down. The autoimmune disease company hired Jean-Paul Kress as president, CEO and a director. Kress was EVP, president international and head of global therapeutics at Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB).

Cardiovascular and hepatic company CiVi Biopharma Inc. (San Francisco, Calif.) hired Shalom Jacobovitz as CEO, effective Feb. 2. He is CEO of the American College of Cardiology.

Biomarker discovery company Denovo Biopharma LLC (San Diego, Calif.) hired Ronald Shazer as CMO and Michael Haller as CFO. Shazer was CMO at Inspyr Therapeutics Inc. (OTCQB:NSPX) and Haller was chief business officer at Peloton Therapeutics Inc. (Dallas, Texas).

Immuno-oncology company OncoResponse Inc. (Houston, Texas) hired Anil Singhal as CSO. He was VP of early oncology development at AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV).

The Datavant Inc. artificial intelligence subsidiary of Roivant Sciences GmbH (Basel, Switzerland) hired Eric Perakslis as CSO. He was SVP of Informatics at Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. (Tokyo:4502).

Translational medicine company Boston Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (Cambridge, Mass.) hired Peter Ho as CMO. He was CMO at Epizyme Inc. (NASDAQ:EPZM).

Infectious disease company Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:TTPH) promoted Larry Tsai to CMO from VP of clinical development.

Microbiome company AOBiome Therapeutics (Cambridge, Mass.) appointed Todd Krueger as CEO. He will continue to serve as president.

BridgeBio Pharma LLC (Palo Alto, Calif.) appointed Sanuj Ravindran and Eric Michael David as CEOs-in-residence. Ravindran will be CEO of BridgeBio's subsidiary PellePharm Inc. (Menlo Park, Calif.) and will focus on dermatological and international programs across BridgeBio's portfolio. David will lead gene therapy efforts including two undisclosed companies. Ravindran was CBO at aTyr Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ:LIFE). David was chief strategy officer and EVP of preclinical development at Organovo Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:ONVO). BridgeBio also promoted Michael Henderson to SVP of asset acquisition, operations and strategy from VP, and Cameron Turtle to SVP of portfolio management and corporate development from director.

Gene therapy company LogicBio Therapeutics Inc. (Cambridge, Mass.) hired Matthias Jaffe as CFO and Tom Wilton as chief business officer. Jaffe was CFO at Constellation Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Cambridge, Mass.). Wilton was CBO for the gene therapy program at University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, Pa.).

Cancer company Tarveda Therapeutics Inc. (Watertown, Mass.) hired Brian Roberts as CFO. He was chief financial and operating officer at Avedro Inc. (Waltham, Mass.).

Endocrine company Crinetics Pharmaceuticals Inc. (San Diego, Calif.) hired Marc Wilson as CFO. He was VP of finance and accounting and chief accounting officer at Cidara Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:CDTX).

Antibody discovery company Harbour BioMed (Shanghai, China) hired Xiaoxiang Chen as EVP and head of clinical development and regulatory science. He was VP of regional medical management for emerging markets at Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH (Ingelheim, Germany).

Cancer company FLX Bio Inc. (South San Francisco, Calif.) hired Dirk Brockstedt as SVP of biology. He was EVP of R&D at Aduro Biotech Inc. (NASDAQ:ADRO).