What happened
Although it hasn't been the most popular coronavirus stock, Ocugen (OCGN 0.81%) clearly found some new fans on Thursday. The company's shares bumped almost 2% higher on news of some fresh faces in the biotech's C-suite.
So what
In a one-two punch, Ocugen has appointed a new chief medical officer and chief scientific officer.
The former is Robert Hopkins, a physician with over 20 years in both the public and private sectors of the healthcare industry. Ocugen said in its press release on the two appointments that Hopkins has held senior-level positions at companies including Merck and Emergent BioSolutions. He comes to Ocugen from Adaptive Phage Therapeutics, where he was also chief medical officer.
The new chief scientific officer is Arun Upadhyay, who previously was the company's senior vice president for research and development. He has filled several managerial-level positions at Ocugen, including senior director, head of discovery, in nearly six years at the company. Ocugen said that during his work in drug development, he has led several successful efforts to win regulatory authorizations.
Now what
Both appointments look solid, with a pair of executives who seem to have the depth and experience needed to help guide an ambitious biotech. As far as coronavirus stocks go, Ocugen remains quite an underdog and a kind of side play, since it has acquired the North American rights to its vaccine Covaxin from its creator (India-based Bharat Biotech) rather than developing the vaccine itself. Covaxin hasn't yet been authorized for use in the U.S.
