Former Antigenics and Elan executive, Peter Thornton, is set to join a new drugs operation, Circ Pharma, as president and chief operating officer, it emerged yesterday.

Irish-based Circ Pharma is the brainchild of another one-time Elan executive, Seamus Mulligan, who established the business earlier this year.

Mr Mulligan is chairman of the new business.

For the past two years, Mr Thornton was senior vice-president and chief financial officer of Nasdaq-listed Antigenics.

While there, he was responsible for business development, investor relations, strategic planning and financing activities.

Between 1994 and 2004, Mr Thornton worked for Elan Corporation, where he held a number of roles in business operations and corporate finance, most recently as senior vice-president of business operations.

Mr Thornton is a non-executive director of Cydex, a US-based speciality pharmaceutical company, and Irish-based Merrion Pharmaceuticals.

Circ Pharma has raised the cash needed to operate for the next 18 months. The company is focused on researching and developing a number of treatments for cardiovascular illness.

It acquired these from Athpharma, a company it took over earlier this year, and from Biovai Corporation. It is also developing delivery formulations (such as tablets and injections) for products used to treat pain. These are in the initial phases of clinical trials.

Mr Thornton believes that the company has enough cash to bring its products through the initial stages before seeking licensing partners from the global pharmaceutical industry.

The company recently appointed Margot Foynes as chief technical officer with responsibility for overseeing the development of these products. She has more than 20 years experience in this field and also worked for Elan.