PTC Therapeutics Adds Senior Management

Robert J. Spiegel M.D., FACP has been appointed chief medical officer and Murad Husain has been appointed vice president, Global Regulatory Affairs at PTC Therapeutics, Inc. Additionally, Joseph Colacino, Ph.D. was promoted to senior vice president, Drug Discovery, and Ernest R. Dietel to senior vice president, Quality.
 
Dr. Spiegel joined the company in 2011 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, he served as chief medical officer of Schering-Plough and was involved in the filing of NDAs in the U.S. as well as interacting with regulatory authorities globally. Dr. Spiegel also served as director of clinical research at Schering-Plough, advancing to vice president of clinical research, and senior vice president of Worldwide Clinical Research.
 
Mr. Husain will lead the regulatory efforts to support PTC’s lead product candidate, ataluren, and other clinical programs. He brings more than 25 years of pharmaceutical industry and regulatory affairs experience. Prior to joining the company, Mr. Husain was vice president, Regulatory Affairs at Savient Pharmaceuticals. He has also led numerous worldwide regulatory teams for drug and biologics development and registration at Pfizer, Hoffman-La Roche, Serono, AstraZeneca and Forest Laboratories.
 
Dr. Colacino joined the company in March 2003 as vice president of Drug Discovery, overseeing therapeutic areas including genetic disorders, oncology, and infectious diseases programs. He has played a role in PTC’s business development activities and served on steering committees for a number of collaborations. Dr. Colacino joined the company after 14 years at Eli Lilly and Co., where he held positions as research acquisition advisor, director of Virology, and head of Biology for Infectious Diseases Research.
 
Mr. Ernest Dietel is responsible for GxP quality management operations at PTC. He joined the company in 2009 as vice president of Quality Assurance. Previously he served as president of DRE Enterprises, Inc., a consulting company that provided services to the pharmaceutical industry in areas of quality, manufacturing, validation, regulatory, and business development. Prior to DRE, he held various roles in Quality and Manufacturing at Pliva, Inc. and Hoffmann-La Roche, Inc. 
 
“We are excited that Dr. Spiegel will expand his role at PTC. His expertise has been valuable in the development of ataluren and our other clinical programs,” said Stuart W. Peltz, Ph.D., chief executive officer of PTC Therapeutics. “I would like to welcome Mr. Husain to our senior management team. Mr. Husain’s global regulatory experience will be a valuable contribution to the company. In addition, I am proud to announce the promotions of Dr. Colacino and Mr. Dietel. They have served important roles in our drug discovery and our quality assurance functions. These important additions to our management team will enable PTC to advance our clinical and research programs consistently with our goal of becoming a global fully integrated discovery, development and commercial company.”