Gene therapy firm Oxford Biomedica has appointed John Dawson as its new chief executive, following the sudden resignation of his predecessor.

Mr Dawson has been acting chief executive since August 29 when he was installed after Mike McDonald stood down from the role after just four months.

From 1996 to 2007 Mr Dawson held senior management positions in the European operations of biotech firm Cephalon and was instrumental key deals that built the European business to more than 1,000 people.

Mr Dawson said: "This is an exceptional company with an experienced management team, strong pipeline and leading technology. I look forward to the challenges ahead as we pursue our objective of becoming a highly-valued, profitable biopharmaceutical company."

Chairman professor Alan Kingsman added: "Since taking the role on an interim basis in August, John has demonstrated his strategic and leadership qualities. With his commitment to the company and successful track record of building biopharmaceutical companies, the board concluded that John is the best candidate to take Oxford BioMedica through its next phase of growth."

Last month, the company made about nine redundancies — ten per cent of the workforce — as part of cost savings implemented by the company to allow it to survive through the first half of 2010, following a huge fall in its share price.

The shares crashed when regulators said kidney cancer volunteers in a trial of Biomedica's key drug Tro-Vax should receive no more treatments.