Friday, October 10, 2008

Synageva selects Genzyme’s Goldberg for board seat

By Mass High Tech Staff

Synageva BioPharma Corp. has named Mark Goldberg, Genyzme Corp.’s current vice president of clinical research, to its board of directors. Waltham-based Synageva, which was originally founded in the Atlanta area in 1996 as Avigenics, makes biopharmaceutical products for commercialization relating to oncology, genetic diseases and autoimmune diseases.

He began at Genzyme in 1996 as the biotech’s medical director for its oncology unit. Most recently he served as a senior vice president of clinical research for the last eight years. Prior to that, he was a physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Goldberg is an oncologist and hematologist.

In August, Biotech Synageva BioPharma opened a new office in Waltham and named Sanj Patel as president and CEO of the company. Patel, also a Genzyme alum, serving nine years at the firm; he most recently served as head of U.S. sales, marketing and commercial operations for Genzyme Therapeutics. The company continues to use its Atlanta-area office for research and production. In June, it received a well-timed $7 million, the final tranche of a $17 million round, which closed last year.