Nabriva Therapeutics plc announced the appointment of Francesco Maria Lavino as Chief Commercial Officer. He will report to Chief Executive Officer Colin Broom, M.D. and be based out of the company’s U.S. headquarters in King of Prussia, PA. Mr. Lavino joins Nabriva Therapeutics from Merck & Co. Inc., bringing nearly two decades of pharmaceutical sales and marketing experience. The last half of his career has been focused on anti-infective medications administered primarily in the hospital setting. Mr. Lavino joins the company ahead of the conclusion of its Phase 3 global clinical trials for lefamulin, a potential new treatment for community-acquired bacterial pneumonia. If lefamulin is approved in the United States, Mr. Lavino will be responsible for enabling doctors to have access and treat those patients who would benefit from lefamulin. Mr. Lavino will be supported by Will Sargent, Vice President, Commercial Strategy. Nabriva owns exclusive, worldwide rights to lefamulin and Mr. Lavino will also support Nabriva’s business development activities to explore potential commercialization opportunities outside the U.S. Mr. Lavino has held positions of increasing responsibility at Merck & Co. Inc., most recently serving as AVP, Global Brand Leader Anti-Infective Portfolio responsible for the development and implementation of the global marketing strategy for the entire Merck anti-bacterial portfolio. Prior to this role he was VP International Marketing for the Anti-Infectives Portfolio at Cubist Pharmaceuticals. Previous roles at Merck included Executive Director, Global Brand Leader, for the company’s antifungal medicines Cancidas® (caspofungin acetate) and Noxafil® (posaconazole) and, before, he held positions both at regional and country level in marketing and sales.