Anthera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced the appointment of William Shanahan, M.D., J.D. as Chief Medical Officer. In his role as Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Shanahan will bring his experience as a Rheumatologist and drug development to lead the blisibimod lupus program and Sollpura program, with both programs expected to report out topline data in the fourth quarter of 2016. He will also have responsibility for the development of additional indications for blisibimod in diseases such as IgA nephropathy and cystic fibrosis and for Sollpura in celiac disease and other diseases. In addition, he will bring extensive experience with FDA and European filings to work closely with regulatory team in preparing the Biologics License Application (BLA) for both Sollpura and blisibimod. Dr. Shanahan joins Anthera with over 30 years of clinical development experience. Most recently, he served as the Chief Medical Officer of Arena Pharmaceuticals. After a brief transition time, Dr. James Pennington will return to his role at Anthera as Senior Clinical Fellow.