Aeterna Zentaris, a specialty biopharmaceutical company, has appointed Richard Sachse, M.D., Ph.D., senior vice president, chief scientific officer. Before joining Aeterna Zentaris, Sachse was vice president, head of Global Translational Medicine at Boehringer Ingelheim.

“Sachse will be responsible for all areas of our global R&D activities, while also working on the corporate Operating Committee. In developing his industry career, Sachse has held  increasingly responsible positions with several pharmaceutical companies, including Bayer, Schwarz Pharma, UCB and Boehringer Ingelheim, overseeing major drug development programs in oncology and endocrinology," said David Dodd, president and CEO of Aeterna Zentaris.

From 1996 to 2000, Sachse was International Project Leader at the Bayer Institute for Clinical Pharmacology, and Principal Investigator at the Bayer Clinical Pharmacology Unit, implementing innovative exploratory development tools, including biomarkers to demonstrate early proof-of-concept. From 2001 to 2006, Sachse held management positions within early and late phase clinical development programs, including responsibilities for completed phase III programs leading to successful NDA/MAA submissions. In 2007, after a merger, he became senior director, head of Experimental Medicine, at UCB in Belgium, where he managed the implementation of novel biomarkers in clinical development to provide data supporting identification of  appropriate target indication and target population. In 2010, Sachse became vice president, head of Global Translational Medicine at Boehringer Ingelheim.