Panacos names Dunton to top spot

Biotechnology company Panacos Pharmaceuticals Inc. said today that it has appointed Alan W. Dunton as chief executive.

Dunton, 52, replaces prior chief executive Dr. Samuel K. Ackerman, who died in June. President Peyton Marshall acted as chief executive in the interim.

Dunton has worked in clinical research for 23 years, and was involved with the development and approval of several drugs, including the antibiotic Levaquin and the over-the-counter pain reliever Aleve. He has worked in recent years as CEO of Metaphore Pharmaceuticals and later as nonexecutive Chairman of ActivBiotics Inc., and in the past at Johnson & Johnson.

Panacos is working on anti-infective products for the treatment of HIV and other viral diseases. (AP)