PTC Therapeutics, Inc. announced an expansion of its senior management team with the appointment of Robert J. Spiegel M.D., FACP to Chief Medical Officer and Murad Husain to Vice President, Global Regulatory Affairs. PTC also announced the promotions of Joseph Colacino, Ph.D. to Senior Vice President, Drug Discovery and Ernest R. Dietel to Senior Vice President, Quality. In addition, Jay Barth, M.D., Senior Vice President of Clinical Development, is leaving PTC to pursue other opportunities. In 2011, Dr. Spiegel joined PTC on a part-time consulting basis as Chief Medical Officer. In his new role, he will be responsible for all aspects of clinical development. Prior to joining PTC, Dr. Spiegel was Chief Medical Officer of Schering-Plough and was involved in the filing of New Drug Applications and interacting with regulatory authorities in the U.S. and globally on a regular basis.
Mr. Husain will lead the regulatory efforts to support PTC's lead product candidate, ataluren, and other clinical programs. Prior to PTC, Mr. Husain was Vice President, Regulatory Affairs at Savient Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Joseph M. Colacino, Ph.D. joined PTC in March 2003 as Vice President of Drug Discovery. Dr. Colacino oversees drug discovery activities across therapeutic areas including genetic disorders, oncology, and infectious diseases programs. As Senior Vice President of Quality, Mr. Ernest Dietel is responsible for GxP quality management operations at PTC. He joined the company in 2009 and became Vice President of Quality Assurance in 2012.