Former Spark exec to lead a gene therapy upstart of his own; Big Pharma marketing vet named CEO of Swiss biotech

2022-07-15

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→ Dave Greenwald ’s days as acting CEO of Apertura Gene Therapy are over as Joseph La Barge steps in to lead the biotech, which just launched in April. Peer Review had been wondering about La Barge’s next landing spot since he left Spark at the end of 2021. In his eight-year stretch with the gene therapy pioneer, he began as chief legal officer and was later promoted to CBO in 2019, when Spark was sold to Roche for $4.3 billion. Deerfield , where Greenwald is VP of business development, put up all the financing for Apertura’s $67 million Series A. → Big Pharma vet Martin Munte has been named CEO of Swiss biotech Vaccentis , the maker of such therapies as Reniale for non-metastatic renal cell carcinomas. After two years at Roche, Munte spent seven years in marketing at AstraZeneca, then moved to Amgen in 2009, where he stayed for the next 12 years. He held general manager positions in Slovakia and Turkey before becoming Amgen’s external access engagement lead, Europe in 2019. Munte’s appointment follows the arrival of three board members in May: Marcel Frei , Subhasis Roy and new chairman Matthias Oertle . → London infectious disease biotech Centauri Therapeutics, which pulled together a $24 million Series A with the help of Boehringer Ingelheim and Evotec , has selected Jennifer Schneider as CEO and Helen Bright as VP of R&D. Schneider is the former executive officer for the Global Antibiotic R&D Partnership (GARDP) North America, while Bright — an ex-senior principal scientist at Pfizer and an AstraZeneca vet in virology and vaccines discovery — spent the last year as head of infection biology at Medicines Discovery Catapult . → We filled you in on Gil Labrucherie ’s departure from a tumbling Nektar, and he’s turned up as CFO of Los Angeles-based Acelyrin , Shao-Lee Lin ’s biotech that hit the jackpot with a $250 million Series B led by the folks at Westlake Village BioPartners . Labrucherie, who gets started July 18, joined Nektar in 2005 as SVP and general counsel, and was promoted to COO and CFO in May 2016. If you haven’t read them already, Endpoints News ‘ Kyle LaHucik profiled Lin along with 14 other LGBTQ biopharma leaders last month. → With Chris Morabito out as CMO of Fulcrum Therapeutics , R&D chief and ex-Roche global clinical development lead Judith Dunn will mind the store until a successor is named. Morabito came to Fulcrum last year after serving in the same capacity at Cardurion Therapeutics . Fulcrum has pushed the onetime GSK drug losmapimod into Phase III for facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy after a Phase II bust in August 2020, and shares spiked a year later when early data for its sickle cell program achieved statistical significance. → Hal Barron over at Altos Labs is plucking up Herbert “ Skip ” Virgin as CMO of the company’s Altos Institute of Medicine. Virgin is skipping out on his CSO post at Vir Biotechnology to join Rick Klausner’s new anti-aging outfit and is teaming up with the likes of CRISPR pioneer Jennifer Doudna . Prior to Vir, Virgin spent most of his career in academia, serving on the faculty of Washington University School of Medicine from 1990 to early 2019. → SpyBiotech co-founder, president, CEO and CSO Sumi Biswas has relinquished one of her titles, setting the stage for Mark Leuchtenberger to take over as chief executive. Leuchtenberger has led the charge at several companies, including CEO stints at Chiasma , Rib-X Pharmaceuticals (now Melinta ) and Brooklyn ImmunoTherapeutics . Under Biswas’ guidance, SpyBiotech teamed up with the Serum Institute of India on a Covid-19 vaccine Covid-19 vaccine trial and netted a $32.5 million Series A five months later. → The hits just keep on coming at CytomX as the biotech grapples with a Phase II dud from one of its lead drugs, praluzatamab ravtansine , in breast cancer. Sean McCarthy ’s crew is shrinking by 40% and the C-suite hasn’t been spared: President and COO Amy Peterson , CFO Carlos Campoy and CMO Alison Hannah have all been shown the door. With the reduced headcount, the South San Francisco biotech hopes to have enough cash on hand to last until 2025. → Jackie Fouse will pass the baton to Brian Goff at Agios on Aug. 8, ending a three-year run as chief executive that saw the company turn away from oncology and reinvent itself as a rare disease outfit. Fouse rejected the notion of being a CEO again in an interview with Endpoints News , but she’ll stay on as chair, while her predecessor and GV general partner David Schenkein will keep his seat on the board after two years as chairman. Goff has plenty of Big Pharma credentials with 21 combined years of service at Novartis and J&J, and he’s also been chief commercial and global operations officer at Alexion from 2017-21. → After company shares took a nosedive in May following news that its Covid-19 treatment had more deaths in the treatment group than placebo cohort in its NIH study and the resignations of its CFO and chief corporate officer, NRx Pharmaceuticals is trying to restore some semblance of balance to the company with the appointment of Stephen Willard as CEO. Willard assumes the reins from interim CEO Robert Besthof , who will return to his duties as head of operations and CCO. No stranger to the CEO hat, Willard has served as chief executive at Cellphire Therapeutics and Flamel Technologies (now Avadel Pharmaceuticals ). Earlier in his career, Willard was an associate director at the FDIC. → To say it’s been a bumpy ride for CytoDyn would be an understatement. After being slapped with two clinical holds in March following an RTF and some stern warnings, the company has now appointed Cyrus Arman as president — who will eventually transition to CEO in the next six months — in hopes of righting the ship. Arman takes over from interim president Antonio Migliarese , who will resume his duties as CFO. Arman comes aboard from Nimble Therapeutics , where he served as CBO. Prior to that stint, Arman was with Neuvogen (VP of corporate development and strategy) and Amgen . → In January, we shared that OSE Immunotherapeutics chair Dominique Costantini was pinch-hitting as CEO after Alexis Peyroles ’ departure, and this week Alexis Vandier has stepped up to the plate as OSE’s permanent chief exec. Vandier climbed through the ranks during his 12 years at Ipsen , getting elevated to VP – global asset lead, oncology in early 2021. In Vandier’s string of posts at Ipsen, the new buyer of Epizyme Epizyme for $247 million , the 11-year Sanofi vet was general manager of Ipsen France and SVP, global consumer healthcare strategy. → Frank Glavin has succeeded co-founder Marty Moore as CEO of Redwood City, CA’s Meissa Vaccines , while Moore becomes the company’s CSO. Galvin was previously the chief executive of Orphan Technologies, which was sold to Martin Shkreli ’s old company Travere Therapeutics for $90 million upfront when it was still Retrophin in October 2020. Meissa is in a Phase Ic trial for its intranasal RSV vaccine candidate MV-012-968 and also has an intranasal Covid-19 vaccine Covid-19 vaccine hopeful in Phase I. → Staring at an FDA delay for tislelizumab with no hint of a reschedule, BeiGene has made several moves. Batting leadoff, Chan Lee ’s first day as general counsel of BeiGene will be Monday as he takes over for Scott Samuels , who had been with the biotech for five years. Lee bids farewell to Sanofi after his stint as North America general counsel, and from 2008-2016 he held multiple legal posts at Pfizer, including SVP and chief counsel for the drug giant’s Innovative Health global business. Additionally, BeiGene has promoted Shreya Jani to SVP, corporate affairs (ex-Greater China) and tapped Michael Schoen to lead US government affairs & public policy. Jani came on board as VP last June, and to round out 14 years at Pfizer in 2017, she was the Big Pharma’s VP, corporate affairs, vaccines, oncology and consumer healthcare. Schoen will continue to be CEO John Oyler ’s chief of staff along with his duties as SVP of business operations. → At Israeli oncology player Purple Biotech , there’s a new but familiar face at the top. Gil Efron , the president and CFO for the last year and a Purple Biotech exec since 2018, has succeeded Isaac Israel , who cited personal reasons for his exit. Purple Biotech is testing its monoclonal antibody CM24 as a combo therapy with Bristol Myers Squibb ’s Opdivo . → Staying in London, Karen Miller has signed on as CSO of Ixaka , a cell and gene therapy player tackling chronic limb-threatening ischemia in Phase III. Miller comes to Ixaka after three years as SVP, pipeline research with Adaptimmune , and she was previously the head of the immunology innovation fund at GSK. The company once known as Rexgenero lined up a $54 million (£40 million) haul in January 2021. → Shortly after bringing in Marshelle Smith Warren as CMO, cell therapy outfit SQZ Biotechnologies has bumped up Morgan Stanley alum Micah Zajic to CFO. Zajic, the CBO at SQZ since October 2020, served as senior director, corporate strategy with Alexion before jumping to MeiraGTx as VP of corporate development from 2017-20. During a flurry of similar appointments at the dawn of 2022, ex- Alnylam chief John Maraganore teamed up with SQZ as a strategic advisor. → One year to the day after Brii Bio ’s $320 million IPO on the Hong Kong exchange, the biotech with HBV and HIV candidates in the pipeline has appointed Susannah Cantrell as CBO. Cantrell’s background includes stops at such major players as GSK, Genentech and Gilead , where she was head of global commercial strategy and marketing oncology. Since November 2020, she had filled the roles of CBO and later COO at Second Genome . → Good as Gold: Part of Merck ’s increasing interest in AI with a deal worth up to $610 million plus royalties, Absci has enlisted Denise Dettore as chief people officer and Jack Gold as chief marketing officer. Following her time at Genentech and Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Dettore recently took on the roles of VP, human resources for North America, Europe and new markets and co-global head of human resources at BeiGene. Gold had a long run in marketing at Nike from 1997-2018, and then became chief marketing officer of Zymergen before leaving in January. → Now that we have AI on our minds, GSK partner PathAI has recruited Brandon Eldredge as CFO. He jumps to the AI pathology upstart from Mass General Brigham, where he was chief clinical business officer, and before it rebranded to Syneos Health , Eldredge served as SVP of corporate strategy and development at inVentiv Health . Although financial specifics were scant, PathAI and GSK are going after oncology and NASH in a new pact that was announced in April. → With new CEO Stephen Yoo in place , Anjarium Biosciences has fleshed out its C-suite with Samantha Vieira as COO and Nate Massari as CBO. Vieira moves on to Anjarium from Biogen, where she was global product development and commercial lead, retinal gene therapy after the ill-fated alliance with Nightstar . Massari co-founded Rumpus Therapeutics and was EVP of rare disease operations at Aytu BioPharma before the Swiss gene therapy biotech came calling. Anjarium assembled big-name investors like Abingworth and Pfizer for its $61 million Series A in September 2021. → Lynette Herscha has reunited with CEO Amanda Wagner as COO of I/O biotech Immunitas Therapeutics , which is targeting CD161 with IMT-009 . The pair worked at Concert Pharmaceuticals — Herscha as associate general counsel, Wagner as VP, business development & product strategy — when the biotech inked a $250 million CF deal with Vertex in 2017. Since her days at Concert, Herscha served as chief legal officer and corporate secretary with Solid Bio and Senda Biosciences . → After a 17-year stint as general counsel of Gilead, Brett Pletcher is retiring , and Deborah Telman , who hops aboard from women’s health pharma and Merck spinout Organon , is taking over. Telman served as general counsel of Organon and has previously held roles at Sorrento Therapeutics , Johnson Controls and Abbott, among others. → Taking an AI approach to developing cancer drugs, Houston’s Kiromic BioPharma has elevated Leonardo Mirandola to CSO. Mirandola has been part of the Kiromic crew since 2016, when he was executive director of R&D. He then rose to head of clinical translation in 2020 and VP of R&D and clinical translation a year later. Kiromic’s stock has lost 96% of its value since joining Nasdaq during the golden age of IPOs in 2020. → South San Francisco-based Amgen spinout Kezar Life Sciences has locked in Nick Mordwinkin as CBO. Leaving Gilead after nearly a year as head of corporate development, inflammation and fibrosis, Mordwinkin once held the role of senior director, head of corporate strategy at Ultragenyx . Kezar’s lead drug, zetomipzomib , fell flat in a Phase II study for patients with dermatomyositis and polymyositis in May. → Swiss-based Anaveon , which raked in $119 million in the hunt for a better next-gen IL-2, has plucked up Gary Phillips as CBO. Phillips most recently served as president and CEO of Orphomed . Phillips has also served as EVP, chief strategy officer, and president, autoimmune & rare diseases at Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals and had stints at Reckitt Benckiser Pharmaceuticals , Bausch & Lomb , Merck Serono, Novartis and Wyeth . → jCyte is making the rounds again in Peer Review. This time bringing in Stewart Craig as chief technology officer. Craig joins the Newport Beach, CA-based company from Erytech Pharma, where he served as chief technical officer. Prior to that, Craig had gigs at Orchard Therapeutics (chief manufacturing officer), Sangamo (SVP, technical operations), PT Cell Therapy Services and Xcyte Therapies (COO). → Suzanne Foster is joining the ranks of Beckman Coulter Life Sciences as president, succeeding Greg Milosevich who is moving on to greener pastures at Danaher Corporation . Foster previously served as president of healthcare at Stanley Black & Decker and had a 10-year stint at Medtronic as general manager of their advanced energy business. → Palo Alto, CA-based Immune-Onc Therapeutics has brought in Christopher Whitmore as CFO. Whitmore hails from Notable Labs, where he served in the same role. Before that, Whitmore was VP of finance and administration for Harpoon Therapeutics . Whitmore also has experience under his belt from stints at Immune Design , AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, Sangamo Therapeutics and KPMG LLP . → InVivo Therapeutics — which last made headlines in 2017 after reporting a third patient being treated with its spinal cord implant had died — has promoted Heather Hamel to chief legal officer and general counsel. Hamel previously served as the company’s VP of legal affairs and business development. Prior to joining InVivo, Hamel was with Ecolab and PLR IP . → New York-based gamma delta T cell shop IN8bio has installed Big Pharma alum Kenneth LaMontagne as SVP, business development. LaMontagne had a nine-year run at Novartis that concluded as global head of business insights, cell & gene therapies unit, and in Bristol Myers’ business development leadership, he led the search & evaluation team for the pharma giant’s cell therapy franchise. In April, LaMontagne left his post as VP, business development with Artisan Bio . → Robert Glassman has been named EVP, search & evaluation of Enavate Sciences , a biotech investment group from Patient Square Capital that kicked things off with $300 million in early May. The ex-vice chairman of global health care investment banking for Credit Suisse, Glassman had made a return engagement to OrbiMed , spending the last year and a half as a venture partner in public equity. → Never too late, we suppose: Swedish kidney disease biotech Calliditas ended 2021 with a flourish by gaining accelerated approval for Tarpeyo , a drug that cuts down proteinuria in patients with primary IgA nephropathy. Calliditas has also announced a pair of moves that were curiously made a while ago. Sandra Frithiof has been head of human resources since departing from Ramberg Advokater in May 2020, and ex- Goodwin Procter partner Jonathan Schur joined as group general counsel in October of that same year. → News from the land down under: Sydney-based antibiotics biotech Recce Pharmaceuticals has appointed Philip Sutton as VP of translational sciences. Sutton has worked with Recce before on its clinical advisory committee and as head of the H. pylori development program, and for the last decade, Sutton led the mucosal immunology group at Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne. → CRISPR startup Spotlight Therapeutics is looking to shine brighter by electing Enhertu luminary Antoine Yver to the board of directors. Yver, the current chairman of development at Centessa , is a new board member at Sanofi — underscoring the Big Pharma’s oncology ambitions — and was Daiichi Sankyo ’s global head of R&D from 2016-21. → Industry vet Susanne Schaffert — who was cut out of a job at Novartis along with her colleague John Tsai as part of a major reorganization effort at the pharma giant — has hopped onto the board of directors of Rubius Therapeutics right as Anne Prener is making her exit from the board. Schaffert spent the last 27 years at Novartis Oncology, culminating in her role as president. Earlier in her career, Schaffert held a number of roles with Novartis, including region head, Novartis Oncology Europe; head of investor relations and global franchise head for immunology and transplantation. → David Chang ’s crew at Allogene has brought Xencor co-founder Stephen Mayo into the fold, opening up space for him on the board of directors. Mayo holds board seats at Merck and Sarepta , and has taught at Caltech for the last 30 years. → Third Rock venture partner Lorence Kim has claimed a spot on the board of directors at one of the VC’s startups, Revolution Medicines . Kim was with Goldman Sach s for 14 years before heading to Moderna as CFO from 2014-20, and he’s a board member at Cowen , Flare Therapeutics and Abata Therapeutics . → Nello Mainolfi ’s protein degradation shop Kymera Therapeutics has pulled up a chair for ex-Gates Foundation COO Leigh Morgan on the board of directors. Morgan, the chief strategy and operating officer for Nia Tero , is the former global head of human resources for product development at Genentech. → We told you about Pam Stetkiewicz joining Arbor Biotechnologies last summer as COO, and she’s just picked up a board seat at ImmuneID , an antibody upstart from Longwood and Harvard’s Stephen Elledge . Stetkiewicz, a 13-year NIBR veteran and former Editas Medicine exec, left for Arbor after a year as SVP, global program leader at Flagship . → Struck down unanimously by an FDA adcomm and handed a CRL a couple months later for its Allport syndrome drug bardoxolone methyl , Reata has named 21-year Pfizer vet Steven Ryder as a member of the board of directors. The one-time Alexion chief development officer has been CMO of Rallybio for three years. → Georges Gemayel , the interim CEO of Gemini after Jason Meyenburg hit the eject button in late February , has been appointed chairman of GlycoEra ’s board of directors. Luciole Medical CEO Philippe Dro and 5AM Ventures managing partner Kush Parmar have also earned seats on the board. → James Cullem ascended to interim CEO at Allarity Therapeutics a couple weeks ago, and now he’s taken a seat on the board of directors with co-founder Thomas Jensen , who shifted to the role of SVP of investor relations. Syros Pharmaceuticals CMO David Roth has also joined Allarity’s board. → San Diego-based Plexium , which has inked deals with heavyweight players such as AbbVie and Amgen , has recruited Brian Wong to its board of directors. Wong is the president and CEO of RAPT Therapeutics . Prior to his current role, Wong was with Five Prime (SVP, research and head of immuno-oncology), Roche (director in the inflammation disease biology area), and Rigel Pharmaceuticals . → Ex-Merck US oncology president Jill DeSimone has been added to the board of directors at Affini-T Therapeutics , which racked up a $175 million financing round in March. DeSimone joined the board at Praxis Precision Medicines a couple months ago. → Pfizer and Teva -partnered Alvotech is adding four new members to its board of directors with the appointments of Lisa Graver (CEO of Alvogen ); Arni Hardarson (partner at Aztiq and former deputy CEO of Alvogen); Linda McGoldrick (chairman and CEO of 2EnableHeallth ); and Ann Merchant (VP for MorphoSys ). → At the same time as securing a seed financing round to pursue the development of an ex-Sanofi molecule, Mosanna Therapeutics has elected Ben Machielse as chairman of the board. Machielse is the former CEO of Vtessse and ex-COO of Omthera Pharmaceuticals . → Mitochrondria-driven CohBar is tapping Effie Tozzo as independent director of its board. Currently, Tozzo serves as CSO of Avilar Therapeutics . Tozzo’s résumé also includes stints at Cellarity (SVP, drug development), Mitobridge (head of R&D and SVP, translational sciences), Merck, Roche, BMS, Millennium, Chiron and ErgoScience . → KAHR Medical , focused on the development of bi-functional fusion proteins, has named Jennifer Minai-Azary a member of its board of directors. Minai-Azary is the CFO of Context Therapeutics and has previously served in the same role at Millendo Therapeutics . Prior to those stints, Minai-Azary was with Parexel and Ernst & Young . → Antimicrobial proteins-focused company Lysando is pulling in Sang Jung Kim to its board of directors. Kim joins Lysando with experience from his current role as director of sales & marketing at Amicogen . Prior to Amicogen, Kim was with Novozymes . → Lyon, France-based Nosopharm is bringing in new faces to its supervisory board with the appointment of Jacques Biton (CSO of Arrakis ) as chairman and new independent members: Laurent Fraisse (former Sanofi and Evotec alum), replacing Marie-Paule Richard ; Sandra Dubos (principal at Kreaxi and former engineer at Sanofi-Aventis), replacing Gwenael Hamon ; and Martin Lauriot Prevost (co-founder of Ozyme ).