Sanofi’s vaccine arm Sanofi Pasteur has inked a deal with AstraZeneca’s biologics subsidiary MedImmune totaling €615m to acquire co-development rights for MEDI8897, a jab to prevent respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection, the most common cause of lung inflammation in infants.

The nanomedicine specialist Nanobiotix announced ex-Novartis industry veteran Alain Dostie as new Chief Operating Officer. 

Mechelen-based biotech Galapagos NV has appointed Walid Abi-Saab to the role of Chief Medical Officer. 

Specialty pharma company Pharmalink AB has elected Maria Carell as Chair of the Board of Directors. Carell replaces Hilde Furberg, who will take over as Vice Chair. 

Barcelona-based epigenetics specialist Oryzon Genomics has made new additions to its Scientific Advisory Board in order to be prepared for the completion of its Phase I trial for dementia drug ORY-2001. Renowned Alzheimer’s disease expert Howard Fillit will take over a seat on the board.

Going forward, Henrik Birk will be in charge of Bavarian Nordic’s operational and HR strategies. He will take over the newly created position of Chief Operating Officer at the Danish-German bio­tech. 

YposKesi, developer of gene and cell therapy products for rare diseases, has appointed Alain Lamproye as its CEO. Lamproye, an expert in industrial bioproduction, most recently served as Chairman of the BioPharma Business Unit of Novasep’s Belgian gene therapy subsidiary.

Researchers at Nestlé Research Center in Lausanne and Canadian collaborators have found that the microbiome of irritable bowel syndrome patients affects their susceptibility for anxiety disorders.

BenevolentAI has hired a Chief Medical Officer – making it the first artificial intelligence company to do so. Patrick Keohane will take up position of CMO at BenevolentBio. The subsidiary of BenevolentAI aims to apply its AI to develop meds, and plans to find other uses for AI in bioscience as well.

German lab equipment provider Sartorius has appointed Rainer Lehmann to the Executive Board. Lehmann will be overseeing the Finance, Human Resources Management and Information Technology functions.