Cardiome Appoints William Hunter Permanent President and CEO

Cardiome Pharma

oday announces changes to the company's senior management team. William Hunter, M.D., previously interim Chief Executive Officer and Director, has been appointed full time President and Chief Executive Officer;  Karim Lalji has been promoted from Senior Vice President of Commercial Affairs to Chief Commercial Officer; and Sheila Grant has been hired as Chief Operating Officer. "We are pleased with what Bill Hunter has accomplished in the last six months including Cardiome's restructuring and managing the return of vernakalant from our previous partner, Merck & Co.," said Bob Rieder, Cardiome's Chairman of the Board. "With Bill's previous experience in managing a successful commercial organization at Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, we have every confidence in his leadership to move Cardiome forward as a commercial stage entity." "Both Karim and Sheila have played pivotal roles in vernakalant's development and achievements to date," said William Hunter, M.D., Cardiome's President and CEO. "Karim's experience in successfully launching pharmaceutical products coupled with Sheila's extensive knowledge of vernakalant will be instrumental to the company's future success." Prior to Cardiome, Dr. Hunter co-founded Angiotech Pharmaceuticals in 1992 and assumed the position of Chief Executive Officer in 1997 when