Two emerging Triangle pharmaceutical firms have hired executives to champion further growth.

Chimerix has named a former Sanofi executive as its chief commercial officer. Meanwhile, Heat Biologics announced a vice president for business development.

  • Chimerix News

Linda Richardson will lead commercialization efforts at Chimerix (Nasdaq: CMRX), She has more than 25 years of experience in life sciences and recently helped lead Sanofi’s launch of an injectable drug to treat Type 2 diabetes. 

Chimerix has a drug candidate in Phase 3 clinical trial. 

“Linda’s successful pharmaceutical product pre-launch and launch expertise and proven track record in developing new therapeutic areas makes her ideally suited to lead our commercial team,” said Kenneth Moch, CEO at Chimerix. 

Chimerix, a Durham-based drug developer, went public in April for more than $100 million.

The company’s focus is antiviral drugs that can be delivered orally.

  • Heat Biologics News

In Chapel Hill, Dr. Anil Goyal has been hired to lead business development efforts for Heat Bio (Nasdaq: HTBX).

“In 2013, we focused our efforts on preparing to execute robust clinical development,” said CEO Jeff Wolf. “With Dr. Goyal now leading our business development strategy, we will focus on identifying the best development and commercialization partnering opportunities for our proprietary technology platform. This is a critical component of our long-term strategy of bringing our novel therapeutic vaccines to market for the benefit of cancer patients.”

Goyal has more than 20 years of experience in life sciences. He most recently served as vice president for business development of Serenex, which was acquired by Pfizer.

Heat went public earlier this year, raising $25 million.

Heat has filed two investigational new drug filings: HS-410, targeting bladder cancer, and HS-110, will soon be entering Phase 2 trials against non-small cell lung cancer.

The firm’s ImPACT Therapy is designed to deliver live, genetically modified, irradiated human cells which are reprogrammed to pump out a broad spectrum of substances toxic to cancer cells. ImPACT is a one-two punch that also includes a potent immune-system booster called gp96, a protein found in all human cells which Heat expects will educate and activate cancer patients’ own immune systems to better recognize and kill cancerous cells.