→ A decorated GLP-1 pioneer is retiring at
Novo Nordisk
.
Channeling
Elvis Presley
with a microphone emoji for good measure,
Lotte Bjerre Knudsen
said on LinkedIn
that she “has left the building” after 36 years with Novo. Knudsen
won the Breakthrough Prize
last year with
Jens Juul Holst
of the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research, along with three other scientists, for discovering the peptide that has rocked the industry. She created
liraglutide
, which is sold as
Saxenda
for weight loss and
Victoza
for type 2 diabetes. And while
Eli Lilly
means business as Novo’s fiercest competitor in the obesity space — adding
another approval
last week with its GLP-1 pill
Foundayo
—
Ozempic
and
Wegovy
have become household names as Knudsen’s long career draws to a close.
“To have played such a pivotal role in advancing science that has meant so much to so many people —that is a privilege beyond measure,” Knudsen wrote.
→ As it readies itself to release crucial Phase 3 data on its weight loss candidate,
Boehringer Ingelheim
has lured an obesity specialist away from Novo Nordisk.
According to a
LinkedIn post
,
Sylvia Shubert
has joined the German drugmaker as SVP of obesity and liver health. She will have much to do in her new role: The American Diabetes Association’s annual meeting in June will see the presentation of data from two late-stage trials of
survodutide
, the GLP-1 and glucagon agonist that grew out of a 2011 metabolic drug development collaboration between Boehringer and
Zealand Pharma
.
If the data are
positive, the company will want to gear up for the shot’s launch in the increasingly competitive obesity space.
Before moving to Boehringer, Shubert spent nearly two years at Novo as VP and US therapeutic area head for obesity. She helped oversee the sale of Wegovy, including its launch in new uses — for
reducing the risk
of cardiovascular events and
treating
the fatty liver disease MASH. Her experience might come in handy at Boehringer, since survodutide is also in late-stage MASH trials.
Earlier, Shubert spent three and a half years at
J&J
and nearly 14 years at
Novartis
.
→
Roche
’s radiotherapy partner
Orano Med
has tapped
Frederic Desdouits
as CEO. The
Pierre Fabre
alum was on the board of directors at
TreeFrog Therapeutics
before he became CEO of the French stem cell biotech in 2021.
Mark Rothera
, the former CEO of
Orchard Therapeutics
,
Silence Therapeutics
and
Viracta Therapeutics
, replaced Desdouits at TreeFrog in December. Orano Med also partnered with
Sanofi
for their radiopharmaceutical
AlphaMedix
in gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs). Despite
encouraging data
, Sanofi
disclosed
in its Q4 update that it deprioritized the asset, opening the door for
Perspective Therapeutics
to potentially compete with Novartis’
Lutathera
.
→ Dutch ADC developer
Byondis
has promoted
Christoph Korpus
to replace
Jacques Lemmens
as CEO. Lemmens will still chair the board of the company he founded. The new chief executive wrapped up an eight-year tenure with
Merck KGaA
in December 2024 and became CBO at Byondis in January 2025. Korpus was elevated to director, global business development and licensing oncology at Merck KGaA, a job title he kept for his last three years at the German pharma.
→
BioCryst
has plucked
Sandeep Menon
from
Alnylam
and he will lead R&D at the
Orladeyo
maker, which snapped up another hereditary angioedema candidate when
it bought
Astria Therapeutics
last fall. Menon was chief development officer, head of clinical development and safety for Alnylam, playing a pivotal role in the approval of its heart drug
Amvuttra
. He held multiple positions over a 13-year career with
Pfizer
, including CSO, BioMedicine AI and digital sciences.
Jon Stonehouse
retired
from BioCryst on Dec. 31 and handed the reins to commercial chief
Charlie Gayer
.
→ Days after
Endpoints News
exclusively revealed
Phase 1b data for
Enveda
’s eczema candidate
ENV-294
, CEO
Viswa Colluru
wrote on LinkedIn
that
Inhwan Kim
has been promoted to chief strategy officer. Kim spent the last 18 months as SVP, portfolio strategy & operations. “Three years ago, I came across Enveda in a random late-night LinkedIn post and found its core thesis — to discover novel medicines from life’s chemistry, refined for biological relevance over billions of years of natural R&D — so compelling that I applied on the spot, hoping to be part of the story,” Kim
wrote in a separate LinkedIn post
. Three years later, Colluru said the new position “formalizes what’s already been true: Inhwan is one of the people who decides what Enveda becomes.”
→
Peter Anastasiou
has been called up from the board of directors
to take the COO job
at
Harmony Biosciences
, while
Rapport Therapeutics
CFO
Troy Ignelzi
and ex-
Sage
chairman
Geno Germano
each nab a spot on the board. Anastasiou has been a board member at Harmony since 2023 and ran
Capsida Biotherapeutics
from 2022-25 following a 12-year run at
Lundbeck
. In September, Capsida
said
a patient died in a trial that was evaluating its gene therapy for a rare brain disorder, and Anastasiou’s LinkedIn page indicates that he left the company a month later. The biotech later
revealed in an open letter
that the patient died from cerebral edema. Former
Acelyrin
chief
Mina Kim
is still listed as interim CEO on Capsida’s website. Harmony also said that
Valor Equity Partners
’
Antonio Gracias
will step down from the board.
→ Overcoming a CRL to finally win the
first-ever FDA approval
for a Barth syndrome treatment,
Stealth BioTherapeutics
has promoted
David Brown
to CSO. Few people know the company as well as Brown, who advised Stealth for seven years before joining the team as senior director, scientific and technical innovation in 2019. He moves up to the CSO slot after two years as SVP of discovery. “I am energized by the work we do at Stealth every day to translate deep knowledge of mitochondrial bioenergetics into new medicines for people facing debilitating diseases,” Brown
said in a press release
.
→ Norwegian I/O player
Lytix Biopharma
has selected
Novo Nordisk alum
Renée Christine Amundsen
as COO. Amundsen left Novo last year and was corporate VP for the diabetes commercial unit. Lytix is studying an oncolytic molecule called
ruxotemitide
as a monotherapy and in combination with
Merck
’s
Keytruda
.
→
Tenpoint Therapeutics
reached the regulatory checkered flag in January with an
FDA approval
for its presbyopia eye drop
Yuvezzi
. This week, Tenpoint
has welcomed
Stephen Lane
as CMO. Lane held this position at eye care specialist
Alcon
, where he was also head of medical safety. When the approval came through, Tenpoint said it hauled in a combined $235 million from an $85 million Series B and a $150 million debt facility.
→
Joti Marango
has landed at Gaithersburg, MD-based
Remedy Plan Therapeutics
as chief financial and business officer. The former
Aptose
exec had juggled the roles of COO and CFO at
Ikena Oncology
, which
reverse merged
with
Inmagene
and rebranded to
ImageneBio
under the ticker
$IMA
. “With our first oncology study now underway, our differentiated approach to NAMPT inhibition positions us well to tackle increasingly broader segments of the oncology market,” Marango
said in a statement
.
→
TuHURA Biosciences
, which did a
reverse merger
of its own with
Kintara
,
has brought in
Amanda Garofalo
as SVP of clinical operations. The
EMD Serono
vet also led clinical operations at
Parabilis Medicines
, a cancer biotech co-founded by
Greg Verdine
that was once known as
FogPharma
. After the Kintara agreement, TuHURA then
merged
with
Kineta
and picked up a VISTA-inhibiting monoclonal antibody that’s now codenamed
TBS-2025
.
→
Palvella Therapeutics
is back for the second time in the last three editions of Peer Review,
hiring
Kent Taylor
as SVP of sales. Taylor had the same responsibilities at
Arcutis Biotherapeutics
and was VP of sales, dermatology for the inflammation & autoimmunity group at
Incyte
. We told you that
Jennifer McDonough
jumped to Palvella last month as SVP of market access and patient services.
→
Mineralys Therapeutics
CEO
Jon Congleton
has punched his ticket
to the board of directors at
Avalyn Pharma
, the pulmonary fibrosis specialist that
filed its S-1 paperwork
this week. It’s his second appointment in as many weeks after
joining the board
at
Immunic
.
→
Stoke Therapeutics
has added
Pfizer veteran
Clare Kahn
to its board of directors. Kahn has spent the last five years on the board at
Solid Biosciences
, where Stoke CEO
Ian Smith
is chairman. Stoke and
Biogen
are currently testing
a Dravet syndrome drug called
zorevunersen
in a Phase 3 study.
→ The non-opioid pain experts at
Latigo Biotherapeutics
have elected
Insmed
CFO
Sara Bonstein
to the board of directors. Insmed had a rough go of it this week as the prospects of a label expansion for
Brinsupri
continue to dim
. Meanwhile, Latigo is hoping
its Nav1.8 inhibitor
can set up a showdown with
Vertex
’s
Journavx
.
→ Cleveland, OH-based cell and gene therapy maker
Abeona Therapeutics
has made room
for
Syndax Pharmaceuticals
CFO
Keith Goldan
on the board of directors. Goldan held the CFO post at
Optinose
from 2017-22.