Accurexa Adds Board Member

Newark, Del.-based Accurexa Inc. a neurological therapy products, has named William Callahan to its board of directors.

Callahan has spent most of his more than 30-year career in emerging growth companies in the medical device, drug delivery and pharmaceutical industry, establishing and growing operations groups, and participating in the launch of numerous new products. He has experience in the translation of research and development projects into commercially viable products, commercial development of new products, set-up of quality control procedures and documentation, and operations. He has been senior director manufacturing operations at Redwood City, Cali.-based specialty pharmaceutical company AcelRx Pharmaceuticals Inc. since March 2014. He was a director of the company’s board from January 2013 until March 2014, and was a consultant to the pharmaceutical and medical technology industries from February 2012 until March 2014. From October 2009 until February 2012, he was vice president of operations for Newark, Calif.-based pharmaceutical Depomed Inc. His previous tasks have included establishing GMP (good manufacturing practices) manufacturing operations and engineering groups whose responsibilities covered product assembly/manufacturing, process and product development, scale up and technology transfer activities, equipment and process qualification and validation execution, and support of regulatory U.S. Food and Drug Administration submissions. Commercial products that he has worked on include in-vitro diagnostic devices (Lifescan Inc. and Avocet Medical Inc.), medical equipment (Applied Biosystems Inc.), transdermal pharmaceutical products (Cygnus Therapeutics Inc, now Cygnus Inc.), and solid oral drug delivery products (Depomed). Throughout his career he has held positions of increasing responsibility in engineering and operations groups at Lifescan–a Johnson & Johnson company, Applied Biosystems, Cygnus Therapeutics, Avocet Medical, and Depomed. He received a B.S. in chemistry from San Francisco State University.

“We are pleased that Bill is joining us at this important time for Accurexa,” said said George Yu, the company’s president and CEO. “With our recent equity financing, we are in a position to continue our product development and build out our operations. Bill’s experience in these areas will add great value to our team.”

“I am delighted to join Accurexa as an emerging company developing novel therapies,” said Callahan. “I have spent the majority of my career in emerging growth companies and look forward to providing new insights and guidance as the company continues to grow.”