Amgen Inc. announced Friday the appointment of Kevin Sharerto president and chief operating officer and to the ThousandOaks, Calif., company's board of directors.

Sharer was executive vice president and president of MCI'sbusiness markets division. He holds a bachelor of sciencedegree from the U.S. Naval Academy, a master of sciencedegree from U.S. Naval Post Graduate School and a master ofbusiness administration from the University of Pittsburgh.

"His (Sharer) numerous business achievements in high-growth,technology-oriented environments demonstrate a strongcombination of vision, strategic thinking and solidmanagement," said Gordon Binder, Amgen's chairman and chiefexecutive officer.

Sharer replaces Harry Hixon, who left Amgen in February1991. Hixson helped form Genesys Therapeutics Corp. inAugust 1991. Genesys merged with Somatix Therapy Corp. inOctober 1991, and Hixson is now chairman of the board forSomatix.

Dennis D. Burns, a senior executive with Johnson & Johnson for10 years, joins Macronex Inc. of Research Triangle Park, N.C., aspresident and CEO. Burns replaces Paul Jones, a founder ofMacronex and acting president. Jones now becomes executivevice president for corporate development.

Most recently, Burns was vice president of licensing andinternational development for J&J's OrthoBiotech.

Liposome Technology Inc. of Menlo Park, Calif., named AnthonyJ. Goosman product director, marketing. He previouslydeveloped marketing plans at Frank J. Corbett Inc., a Chicago-based advertising company.

Agridyne Technologies Inc. of Salt Lake City promoted TimothyE. Wood to vice president of research and development fromdirector of R&D, replacing Dale Hansen, who resigned.

Dekalb Genetics Corp. of Dekalb, Ill., named to its board ofdirectors Paul H. Hatfield , chief executive officer and presidentof Protein Technologies International Inc., a subsidiary ofRalston Purina Co.

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