San Diego, Ca., USA - October 6, 2015, San Diego, Ca., USA - Arena Pharmaceuticals announced that Jack Lief, president and chief executive officer, has retired from the company, including its board.
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Mr. Lief is a co-founder of Arena and has served as a director and our President and Chief Executive Officer since April 1997. He also served as the Chairman of Company's Board of Directors from October 2007 to December 2014.
Mr. Lief served as an advisor and consultant to biopharmaceutical organizations from 1995 to April 1997; as Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Secretary of Cephalon from 1989 to 1994; as Director of Business Development and Strategic Planning for Alpha Therapeutic Corporation from 1983 to 1989; and in various positions at Abbott Laboratories, a pharmaceutical company, from 1972 to 1983, most recently as the head of International Marketing Research.
Within the past five years, Mr. Lief also served as the Chairman of the board of directors of Mast Therapeutics. He is also an Executive Board Member of BIOCOM, a life science association and was the Chair of the board of directors of BIOCOM from March 2005 to March 2006.
Mr. Lief holds a B.A. from Rutgers University and an M.S. in Psychology (Experimental and Neurobiology) from Lehigh University.
Harry F. Hixson, a director of Arena since 2004, has been appointed to serve as interim Chief Executive Officer and interim principal financial officer.
Dr. Hixson served as the Chairman of the board of directors of Sequenom, Inc., a genomics company, from January 2003 to March 2015, and as its Chief Executive Officer from September 2009 to June 2014.
Dr. Hixson previously served as Chief Executive Officer of BrainCells, a drug discovery and development company, from 2004 to 2005, as Chief Executive Officer of Elitra Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company, from 1998 to 2003, and in various management positions with Amgen, a biopharmaceutical company, from 1985 to 1991, most recently as President and Chief Operating Officer. ■