Anika Therapeutics Appoints New President

Anika Therapeutics Inc., a global, integrated orthopedic medicines company specializing in therapeutics based on its proprietary hyaluronic acid (“HA”) technology, announced the appointment of Joseph Darling, an orthopedic and medical device veteran with broad commercial experience, to the role of president. For the past 15 years, the company’s CEO, Dr. Charles H. Sherwood served as president and plans to transition the role to Darling, while continuing his tenure as CEO. Darling brings more than 20 years of executive management and leadership experience from publicly-traded, commercial-stage companies including Baxter Healthcare, Smith & Nephew, ConMed, and Wyeth-Ayerst.
 
“Anika is at the cusp of a transformation. We are ushering in the next decade of growth through the build-out of a direct commercialization capability, a steady march of global expansion, and a pipeline that includes multiple potential blockbuster products,” said Charles H. Sherwood, Ph.D., CEO of Anika Therapeutics. “With his established track record overseeing global sales and marketing efforts at leading medical device companies, Darling is uniquely suited to help drive continued growth and spearhead Anika’s direct commercialization initiative. The company’s leadership team and our Board are excited for Darling to bring his deep expertise to the table during this exciting period.”
 
Most recently, Darling held executive leadership positions with two small privately held orthopedic companies. Prior to these roles, Darling held senior level executive positions at ConMed Corporation, a global, publicly-held, diversified medical device company, as global president of its wholly-owned subsidiary, Linvatec Corporation, and as executive vice president of global corporate commercial operations. At ConMed, Darling led five global business units with $760 million in annual revenues and refocused organizational efforts in sales, marketing, and R&D.
 
“Dr. Sherwood and his leadership team have built Anika into an innovative, high growth, profitable, and global orthopedic company with a diversified portfolio that includes differentiated, market-leading therapeutic products and an emerging orthopedic medicine pipeline with tremendous potential,” said Darling. “I’m excited to join Anika during, what I believe to be, a pivotal moment in its 25-year history. My extensive commercial operations background in the orthopedic sector will prove to be integral to executing the company’s long-term growth strategy.”
 
Before ConMed, Darling was senior vice president and general manager for the sports medicine business at Smith & Nephew and played an important role in defining a global strategy that propelled the company to a leadership position in the sports medicine field. Darling launched his career at Abbott Laboratories and Wyeth-Ayerst Pharmaceuticals, where he held management positions in sales and marketing before joining Baxter Healthcare as a vice president of marketing and health systems. Darling holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Syracuse University.