Mr Kranda succeeds John McLaughlin, who resigned as CEO and member of the Anesiva board to pursue other business interests, while remaining a consultant to the company.
Most recently, Mr Kranda was managing director for biotechnology and life science investments at Vulcan. Before that, Mr Kranda was CEO of Oxford GlycoSciences.
Rodney Ferguson, chairman of the board at Anesiva, said: “Michael is the ideal person to lead Anesiva as it transitions from a drug development company to a commercially focused enterprise.”