San Diego-based Optimer Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:OPTR]]) has named Pedro Lichtinger as its new chief executive officer. Lichtinger will replace Michael Chang, who will continue at Optimer as chairman of the board and as a consultant, the company said in a statement. Lichtinger is a former executive from Pfizer, and was most recently the president of that company’s primary care business. Optimer is in the final stages of development with antibiotics for C.difficile bacterial infections that people get in hospitals, and another for traveler’s diarrhea.
Author: Luke Timmerman
Luke is an award-winning journalist specializing in life sciences. He has served as national biotechnology editor for Xconomy and national biotechnology reporter for Bloomberg News. Luke got started covering life sciences at The Seattle Times, where he was the lead reporter on an investigation of doctors who leaked confidential information about clinical trials to investors. The story won the Scripps Howard National Journalism Award and several other national prizes. Luke holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and during the 2005-2006 academic year, he was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT.
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