Dawn Svoronos has become Chief Commercial Officer at US biotechnology company Medivation.
Svoronos is a member of Medivation's Board of Directors and a former President of Europe and Canada for Merck & Co. She will lead Medivation's commercial organisation on an interim basis and participate in the company's search for a permanent Chief Commercial Officer.
Cheryl Cohen, Medivation's former Chief Commercial Officer, has left the company to pursue other opportunities.
Svoronos, who was elected to Medivation's Board of Directors in April 2013, has more than 30 years of pharmaceutical industry experience spanning the US, Europe, Asia and Canada.
In March 2011, she retired from Merck & Co, where she worked in the commercial side of the organisation for 23 years.
Svoronos is a former President of Europe and Canada for Merck. Before moving to Europe, she was President of Merck in Canada and prior to that, Vice President of Merck for Asia Pacific where she focused on advancing the commercial interests of Merck in Japan, China, and several other countries in Southeast Asia.
San Francisco-based Medivation currently markets XTANDI (enzalutamide) capsules with its collaboration partner Astellas Pharma. XTANDI is currently approved for the treatment of patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) who have previously received docetaxel chemotherapy. In March 2014, Astellas and Medivation submitted a supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) to the US FDA seeking approval of XTANDI for the treatment of men with metastatic prostate cancer that has progressed on LHRH therapy or after bilateral orchiectomy. In May, the FDA granted the sNDA application Priority Review designation with a Prescription Drug User Fee Act date of 18 September.
