This week’s roundup includes high-level appointments by Almirall, Hookipa Biotech and RXi Pharmaceuticals, in addition to CEO appointments by Karolinska Development and ReForm Biologics and various board announcements by companies including Faron and Redx.

Recent executive-level hires and director appointments at venture capital firms and biopharma and medtech start-ups.

At $4.2 billion, biopharma financing in Q4 2012 showed a 36% increase over Q3 with FOPOs again dominating as the most popular deal type. With 34 finalized biopharma M&As, Q4 was the most active quarter of all 2012 for acquisitions. The 108 biopharma alliances completed had a combined potential deal value of almost $2 billion; Johnson & Johnson, with seven tie-ups, was the busiest pharmaco during Q4.

Start-ups raised a total of $670.3 million across all industries in Q4 2012, just $11.6 million less than in Q3, and 90% of that money went to biopharma companies. Several start-up companies inked deals with Big Pharmas, and there were three acquisitions – two in biopharma and one in the device sector.