→
Revance
feels like it has a competitive advantage over
AbbVie
’s blockbuster
Botox
with only biannual injections
of its freshly approved
Daxxify
, as opposed to the injections every three or four months that Botox requires. But you come at the king, you best not miss, and as Daxxify hits the market, Revance
has now tapped
David Hollander
as CMO. Hollander was previously the chief R&D officer at
Aerie Pharmaceuticals
, which was sold to
Alcon
a couple months ago
in a $770 million deal
, and he has familiarity with the Botox developer through his 10 years at
Allergan
. From 2011-16, he was Allergan’s VP, global therapeutic area head in clinical development for anterior segment and consumer eye care. The Nashville biotech is also testing
DaxibotulinumtoxinA
in patients with cervical dystonia, among other conditions.
→ Now under the leadership of ex-
Intercept
CEO
Mark Pruzanski
and
part of this year’s Endpoints 11 class
, obesity startup
Versanis Bio
has welcomed
Kenneth Attie
as CMO and
Aditya Venugopal
as SVP, corporate development and strategic planning. Attie was one of the staffers left out in the cold at
Imara
as it whittled down
to a six-person company
in April but turned around its fortunes
by reverse merging with
Enliven Therapeutics
last week. Before he was Imara’s medical chief, Attie spent 11 years at
Acceleron
as VP, medical research. In a mini-reunion, Venugopal worked for Pruzanski at Intercept as head of strategic planning, and since 2020 he had been VP of business development for
Luca Santarelli
at
VectivBio
.
→ Wholesale changes are being made at
Scynexis
, and not just with a slimmed-down pipeline as it shops around for a commercialization partner with
Brexafemme
. CEO
Marco Taglietti
will retire on Dec. 31, setting up CMO
David Angulo
to replace him as we ring in 2023. Ex-
Eisai
and
Athersys
finance chief
Ivor Macleod
’s first day as CFO will be Oct. 24, while chief commercial officer
Christine Coyne
’s job has been phased out. Scynexis will also be making more cuts to a staff that stood at 56 employees as of March 1, but the exact number wasn’t revealed. Kyle LaHucik
has more on a company in flux
.
→
Lyn Baranowski
has taken over for
Bruce Montgomery
as CEO of Seattle-based pulmonary disease outfit
Avalyn Pharma
, once known as
Genoa Pharmaceuticals
. Since 2018, Baranowski knows the pulmonary space well from her four years as operations chief at
Altavant
, and from 2013-18, the
Novartis
alum was SVP of corporate development & strategy with
Melinta Therapeutics
. Avalyn’s lead program is an inhaled version of
pirfenidone
named
AP01
for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
→ The CEO situation has taken a turn at
Maravai LifeSciences
, where former
Danaher
SVP
Trey Martin
had succeeded
Carl Hull
earlier this month — or so we thought. Three Danaher subsidiaries have a bone to pick with the appointment,
suing Martin and Maravai
, and “alleging that Martin is in breach of a noncompetition agreement.” With a temporary restraining order in place, Hull didn’t hide his displeasure as he retakes his old position. “We have complete confidence in Trey and are appalled that Danaher would seek to leverage a noncompetition agreement to prevent Trey from advancing his career,” Hull said in a statement.
→
Alice Zhang
’s AI drug discovery shop
Verge Genomics
has installed
14-year
Biogen
vet
John Applegate
as CFO. Formerly the VP of finance & accounting with
Valo Health
, Applegate closed out his Biogen career in 2019 as head of R&D finance. Zhang just contributed to
Ochre Bio
’s
$30 million Series A
, while Verge’s latest round of funding
totaled $98 million in December 2021
. In another Biogen connection, ex-R&D chief and current
Voyager
CEO
Al Sandrock
joined the board of directors
at Verge in February.
→
Zentalis Pharmaceuticals
has been relentless with its leadership moves since the
Kim Blackwell
era
began in May with a $200 million cash infusion
, promoting co-founders
Cam Gallagher
and
Kevin Bunker
while
picking up a CMO
and
general counsel
in that span. This week Zentalis
returns to Peer Review with
Mark Lackner
as chief translational officer, head of biomarker strategy. Before he was head of biology and translational sciences for
Ideaya Biosciences
, Lackner led the oncology early-stage biomarker group as part of his 13 years at
Genentech
.
→ Co-founded and chaired by
Tillman Gerngross
, oncology outfit
Ankyra Therapeutics
has recruited
Joseph Elassal
as CMO. Elassal has two stints at
Regeneron
on his résumé: one from 2012-18, and the other as senior medical director, global medical affairs, oncology since 2020. In between, he was a deputy VP at
PhRMA
and a senior medical director for
Replimune
. Ankyra
bagged a $45 million Series B
in November 2021 with the help of
Polaris
,
GV
and a number of other investors.
→ Another Gerngross company,
Invivyd
, came out swinging when it was known as
Adagio
, with big aspirations for its Covid-19 monoclonal antibody along with bigger bucks. But the drug
struck out against Omicron
, and
Gerngross was gone as CEO
within a couple months. The name
changed to Invivyd
a few weeks ago, but the unease remains the same, as CFO/CBO
Jane Henderson
and chief commercial officer
Eric Kimble
have packed their bags.
Fred Driscoll
, a CFO with
Renovacor
,
Flexion Therapeutics
and
Novavax
,
will bridge the gap
as interim finance chief as Invivyd also says goodbye to an unspecified number of staffers.
→ Pittsburgh’s
NeuBase Therapeutics
has also been beset by layoffs,
dismissing 60% of its employees
this week while pivoting to gene editing.
Sandra Rojas-Caro
, NeuBase’s CMO since May 2021 who also began another role as head of R&D this past April, handed in her resignation.
→ As
George Church
’s
Colossal Biosciences
continues its quest to bring back the woolly mammoth, its computational biology spinout
Form Bio
has locked in
Mark Swendsen
as chief revenue officer. Swendsen held the same position at
DNAnexus
before coming to Form Bio, which christened the boat
with a $30 million Series A round
in late September.
→
Flagship
’s
Alltrna
has dipped into the talent pool of the incubator’s most famous creation to find its VP, discovery platform.
Caroline Köhrer
comes to the tRNA player
after more than two years as
Moderna
’s director of RNA science — a key cog in the development of its Covid-19 vaccine — and five years overall. Alltrna chief
Michelle Werner
was part of
Flagship’s rapid-fire CEO-partner appointments in April that included
Margo Georgiadis
and former AbbVie president
Michael Severino
.
→ While we have Flagship companies on our mind,
Senda Biosciences
has pulled in two new execs
with the appointments of
Lori Rudolph-Owen
as COO and
Barbara Bispham
as general counsel. Rudolph-Owen hails from
Goldfinch
Bio
, where she most recently served as chief development officer. Prior to that, Rudolph-Owen held a number of roles at
Pfizer
,
AMAG Pharmaceuticals
,
MGI
Pharma
,
Vertex
and
Millennium
Pharmaceuticals
. Bispham joins Senda from
BridgeBio
, where she was VP, head of legal. Prior to that, Bispham was with
Goodwin Procter
,
Cooley
and
Reed Smith
.
→ Not to be confused with the great
basketball Hall of Famer Bob Pettit
,
Robert Petit
has become the head of early clinical development at
Orionis Biosciences
, a cancer biotech
that racked up $55 million in financing
this week. Petit chairs the scientific advisory board and is the ex-CSO of
Advaxis
, which happened to make news the same day as Orionis’ raise
by merging with
Ayala Pharmaceuticals
. One more thing about Orionis:
Cormorant Asset Management
founder and chief executive
Bihua Chen
is now a member of the board.
→
Nigel Horscroft
has settled in
as CSO of German antiviral biotech
Atriva Therapeutics
, replacing current scientific advisory board chairman
Oliver Planz
. Horscroft brings Big Pharma credentials with him from Pfizer, and during his time at
CureVac
from 2012-20, he was promoted to area head, molecular therapy. Atriva has also picked up two other clinical execs this year:
Stephan Witte
(VP, clinical science and operations) in January and
Tim Overend
(VP, clinical development and regulatory) in July.
→ Staying in Germany,
Boehringer Ingelheim
and
GSK
alum
Thomas Bogenrieder
has joined
adenovirus-based cancer biotech
Abalos Therapeutics
as CMO. Bogenrieder had held the role of chief clinical officer at Swiss-based
AMAL Therapeutics
since July 2020 and is the ex-medical chief of
Evaxion Biotech
. A year ago around this time, Abalos topped off its Series A
with $37.6 million in additional funding
.
→ In September 2021, we told you about
Roche
vet
Anja Harmeier
taking the CEO job
at Belgian remyelination biotech
Rewind Therapeutics
. Fast forward to this week, where Rewind
has selected
Irene Knuesel
as CSO. Knuesel has Roche ties herself, closing out her six-year tenure in 2019 as the pharma giant’s head of the neuroimmunology and neurodegeneration section. Incidentally, Roche is under the microscope again in the Alzheimer’s space as we await data for its resuscitated drug
gantenerumab
.
→ Targeting solid tumors,
Immuneering
—
one of many biotechs
that took the Nasdaq plunge at the zenith of IPOs in 2021 —
has brought in
Leah Neufeld
as chief people officer. Neufeld has worked in human resources for companies of all sizes, with
J&J
,
Daiichi Sankyo
and
Prevail
packing her résumé. The one-time head of HR at Intercept was recently the chief human resources officer for
Jiangsu Hengrui
subsidiary
Luzsana Biotechnology
.
→
Ashvattha Therapeutics
, a hydroxyl dendrimer (HD) biotech based in the Bay Area,
has pegged
Steve Maricich
as CMO. Maricich recently held the CMO post at
Scripps
’
Calibr
, and he’s been the medical chief at
Allievex
, the developer of a drug for Sanfilippo syndrome type B that was once in
BioMarin
’s hands.
→
Jessica Atkinson
has been appointed
CBO of
ImmuneID
, a biotech out of
Stephen Elledge
’s lab at Harvard that’s zeroing in on antibodies with its AI platform, called aiSPIRE. Atkinson rose to VP, business development at
Foundation Medicine
in 2019 after Roche’s
$2.4 billion takeover
, and she just had a brief run as SVP, business development of
Glympse Bio
.
→ Plainly-named
IO Biotech
, a Nasdaq newcomer in 2021 that’s going after IDO and PD-L1 with its cancer drugs
IO102
and
IO103
,
has enlisted
Amy Sullivan
as CFO. Sullivan had a seat at the negotiating table as chief strategy officer of
Kiadis
when it was purchased by
Sanofi
for $358 million. The ex-SVP of corporate affairs at
Keryx Biopharmaceuticals
was also VP, investor relations and corporate communications with AMAG Pharmaceuticals.
→ Belgian biotech
Bioxodes
is changing up the top exec seat
with the appointment of
Marc Dechamps
as CEO. Dechamps takes over the reins from company founder
Edmond Godfroid
, who is transitioning into the roles of COO and CSO. Dechamps brings with him experience from his times at GSK and
ViiV Healthcare
to the new role.
→ San Diego RNA editing biotech
ADARx Pharmaceuticals
is a busy bee in Peer Review too,
naming
Feriandas Greblikas
as VP of clinical development after hiring CFO
Chris Prentiss
and CMC VP
Christopher Claeboe
this year. A veteran of
Novo Nordisk
, Biogen and
Baxter
, Greblikas comes to ADARx from
Travere Therapeutics
, where he was a senior medical director and clinical development lead. And in a previous gig, he worked for
JJ Bienaimé
as BioMarin’s medical director of phenylketonuria clinical trials.
→ Coming up on a year since
its $60 million Series A
, STAT3- and STAT6-focused
Recludix Pharma
is back in Peer Review
with
Paul Smith
as SVP of biology. Smith, the ex-global research lead for
Gilenya
with Novartis, has also been senior director of inflammation and autoimmunity at
Incyte
. He held the role of VP, discovery biology at
Connect Biopharma
before pivoting to Recludix, a company out of San Diego that introduced CBO
Matthew Caldemeyer
in late September.
→ Transpacific oncology biotech
AnHeart
Therapeutics
, which secured a
$61 million Series B round
last year,
has welcomed aboard
Heinrich Farin
as senior medical director, clinical research and
Michael Humphries
as VP, head of US medical affairs. Farin hails from
Mirati
, where he served as senior medical director and has a prior stint as global senior medical director, clinical research and development at
BeiGene
. Earlier in his career, Farin had roles at
Ariad Pharmaceuticals
and
Baxalta
. Meanwhile, Humphries brings expertise from his time at
Takeda Oncology
, where he served as senior scientific director of global medical affairs. Prior to
Takeda
, Humphries had gigs at
Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals
and
Array
Biopharma
.
→ Swiss LILRB (leukocyte immunoglobulin-like receptor subfamily B) biotech
ImmunOs Therapeutics
has pegged
Hilmar Ebersbach
as VP, antibody development and protein engineering. Ebersbach had spent the last 15 years in biotherapeutic engineering and gene therapy at the
Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research
.
→ Believe it or not,
Daniel Ripley
has ventured off to
HighTide Therapeutics
as SVP, business development. Ripley is an
Ionis
BD vet who led global business development for the last two years at
Alpha Biopharma
, and as the brave souls of HighTide give NASH a whirl with its lead program
HTD1801
, he also has experience in the space as SVP of business development, program and alliance management at
Conatus Pharmaceuticals
, a Novartis partner
plagued by NASH failures
that
merged with
Histogen
in 2020.
→
GSK India
has named
Bhushan Akshikar
as managing director, succeeding
Sridhar Venkatesh
, who is transitioning to a senior role within the GSK Group. Akshikar joined GSK India in September 2011. Prior to GSK, Akshikar had a 15-year stint at J&J’s
Janssen
.
→ Ex-AMAG Pharmaceuticals CEO
Brian Pereira
has been named
chairman at
KalVista
following the resignation of
Martin Edwards
and a resounding trial failure. Earlier this month, KalVista
had to stop a Phase II trial
of its hereditary angioedema drug
KVD824
after issues with liver enzymes were detected throughout all three treatment groups. Pereira has been president and CEO of
Otsuka
sub
Visterra
since 2013.
→ Proteomics biotech
SomaLogic
, which
reverse-merged onto Nasdaq
with
Eli Casdin’s
SPAC with a $1.2 billion valuation last April,
has tapped
Troy Cox
as executive chair of the board of directors, taking over from
Chuck Lillis
, who will remain on the board. Cox formerly served as president and CEO of Foundation Medicine and was SVP and officer at Genentech and held roles at
UCB
, Sanofi-Aventis and
Schering-Plough
.
→
Rocket Pharmaceuticals
chief
Gaurav Shah
is now chairman of the board
at Swiss gene therapy developer
Anjarium Biosciences
, which
unveiled a $61 million launch round
in September 2021 thanks to such big-name investors as Pfizer and
Abingworth
. And after joining the board at
Oncorus
in June, ex-
Dicerna
CEO
Doug Fambrough
also has a place in Anjarium’s boardroom.
→ Cell processing shop
Curate Biosciences
has reserved space
for Shah’s chief technical officer at Rocket,
Mayo Pujols
, on the board of directors. Pujols was in charge of global manufacturing for
liso-cel
(now
Breyanzi
) as
Celgene
’s VP of global CAR-T operations and technology.
→ Belgian infectious disease biotech
ExeVir
has appointed
Jeanne Bolger
to chair the board of directors. After 13 years at GSK, Bolger switched to another pharma giant as VP of scientific licensing at J&J, later becoming the VP of venture investing at
Johnson & Johnson Innovation (JJDC)
.
→
Theseus Pharmaceuticals
— a TKI player from
OrbiMed
whose stock
$THRX
recently hit its nadir practically a year to the day
that it joined Nasdaq
in a none-too-shocking development in this market —
has added
Incyte CMO
Steven Stein
to the board of directors. Stein is a former clinical development exec with GSK and
Novartis Oncology
.
→
Geron
’s EVP, corporate strategy and chief commercial officer
Anil Kapur
is making his way
to the board of directors at
Verastem Oncology
. Kapur is the former head of early assets, biomarkers and external innovation for worldwide oncology commercialization for
Bristol Myers Squibb
and the ex-CCO at
Actinium
.
→ China-based
Hangzhou Qihan Biotech
has brought on
Tony Ho
to its board of directors. Ho joins after a four-year stint at
CRISPR
Therapeutics
, where he most recently served as EVP and head of research & development. Ho’s prior experience includes roles as SVP and head of oncology integration and innovation at
AstraZeneca
, head of neurology and ophthalmology at
Merck
and co-founder and CSO at
Neuronyx
.
→ Following a recent Series C financing round,
Inversago Pharma
has reeled in
Ed Mathers
and
Nanna Lüneborg
to its board of directors. Mathers is a general partner at
New Enterprise Associates
and has previously served as EVP, corporate development and venture at
MedImmune
. Mathers currently serves as a director to a host of companies, including
Rhythm
Pharmaceuticals
,
Synlogic
,
Senti
Bio
,
Inozyme
,
Akouos
and
Affinia
. Meanwhile, Lüneborg is a general partner at
Forbion
and formerly served a decade-long stint as a partner at
Novo
Ventures
.
→ The
Illinois Biotechnology Innovation Organization
(
iBIO
)
has added three new faces
to its board of directors with the appointments of:
Rahul
Jerath
(senior director, head of oncology business development & acquisitions at AbbVie),
Phil Tennant
(SVP and head of oncology business unit at
Astellas
), and
Joe Whalen
(SVP, alliances & international business development at
Horizon Therapeutics
).
Illustration: Kim Ryu for Endpoints News