Canadian contract manufacturer Patheon has instigated changes in the roles of several of the company's senior executives.

Nick DiPietro has assumed a new role as executive vice president of corporate development and in doing so, has will relinquish his responsibilities as president and chief operating officer of the firm.

In his new role, DiPietro will lead the development of a long-term corporate strategy and assist in evaluating future growth opportunities. He will continue to report to Wesley Wheeler, Patheon's CEO.

Moreover, Clive Bennett, currently president of Patheon USA, has taken on the position of chief technical officer, also reporting to Wheeler.

In this newly created role, Bennett will be responsible for Patheon's global quality, supply chain, information technology and engineering functions.

Meanwhile, Steve Liberty has been appointed senior vice president of Operations for Canada and USA, where he will assume responsibility for Patheon's Cincinnati and Burlington Century Laboratory facilities in addition to his current leadership of the Toronto Region, Whitby and York Mills sites.

Liberty will report to Terence Novak, who just joined Patheon in February this year as president of North American Operations and chief marketing officer.

"This re-alignment of responsibilities will result in a more focused and effective executive team, enabling us to move forward to build and grow our business," said Wheeler.

US pharma contract packaging firm Keller Crescent has announced the appointment of a new CEO of its printing/packaging operations. Bill Mitchell has joined the firm from Cardinal Health Packaging Services where he recently served as president.

In his new role he will oversee Keller Crescent's current facilities in Evansville and Indianapolis, Indiana, and Charlotte, North Carolina.

Mitchell replaces Thomas Smythe, who is retiring after over 50 years with the company.

Bilcare Global Clinical Supplies, an Indian-based provider of clinical trial services from formulation and analytical services to IVRS and global distribution, has hired Vito Mangiardi, as the new CEO of the firm.

The appointment is part of a number of initiatives the company has been making over the last few months in a bid to boost its global appeal, including upgrading equipment, increasing the number of its packaging rooms, expanding its storage and distribution facilities, enhancing its formulation and analytical development services and technical capabilities, and integrating global operations.

Prior to joining Bilcare, Mangiardi most recently held the post of president of North American Operations for AAI Pharma where he was responsible for Phase I, formulation development, analytical development, bioanalytical, manufacturing and stability testing, as well as Phase II-IV clinical trials.

Contract research firm Molecular Profiles has made two new significant additions to its team - Dr Mike Fanfarillo has joined the company as operations director and Dr Robert Sherry has been recruited as associate director of Pharmaceutics.

Fanfarillo will be responsible for the management of research projects and the development of the technical team, as well as services at Molecular Profiles.

Sherry will act as a consultant on a range of formulation issues facing pharmaceutical companies in the development of their products, including utilizing outputs from investigations to assert intellectual property rights for these clients. He will also be responsible for directing technical studies to resolve complex formulation issues and for developing collaborations with academic and industrial experts.