Aug. 24, 2005 — BioDelivery Sciences International Inc. (NASDAQ: BDSI, BDSIW) announced that Mark Sirgo has been appointed chief executive officer.
Sirgo will maintain his position as president and relinquish his position of chief operating officer. Francis O’Donnell Jr., the company’s current chief executive officer, is relinquishing that position but shall remain chairman of the board.
Most recently Sirgo was president and chief executive officer of Arius Pharmaceuticals, an early stage biotechnology company which BioDelivery Sciences acquired in August 2004. Prior to this, he spent 16 years in a variety of positions of increasing responsibility in both clinical development and marketing at Glaxo, Glaxo Wellcome, and GlaxoSmithKline.
Concurrent with the appointment, Sirgo was also appointed to the board. In order that the company should maintain a majority of independent directors, the board also appointed Donald Ferguson as a board member.