Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Sirtris' Westphal, Dipp to lead external drug discovery for GSK

By Mass High Tech Staff

Sirtris Pharmaceuticals Inc. CEO and co-founder Christoph Westphal and vice president of corporate development Michelle Dipp have been appointed to new positions at British drug giant GlaxoSmithKline’s Centre of Excellence for External Drug Discovery (CEEDD) in order to assist in new drug discovery development outside of GSK.

In addition to his CEO post at Sirtris, Westphal has been named senior vice president, Sirtris and Centre of Excellence for External Drug Discovery, GSK. He will work with biotech companies to help funnel advances in life sciences into the GSK portfolio. Westphal will continue to direct Sirtris’ sirtuins therapeutic developments associated with anti-aging effects and potentially uses to treat diabetes, cancer and other major diseases.

Dipp, in addition to her current role at Sirtris, will join as a leader of the CEEDD.

GSK completed its acquisition of Cambridge-based Sirtris in June, paying $720 million in cash. The British company said it would keep Sirtris as an autonomous unit of its drug discovery business.

Westphal was named a Mass High Tech All-Star in 2007.  He has also co-founded three other Massachusetts biotechnology firms -- Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc., Momenta Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Acceleron Pharma Inc.