Almost five months after
emerging from stealth mode
on a mission to leverage work being done in “flyover” states like Texas and Wisconsin,
Sporos Bioventures
has named its first official CEO.
Amit Rakhit
left his role as president and CMO of
Ovid Therapeutics
to take the helm at Sporos, a Houston-based upstart launched by
Genzyme
vet
Michael Wyzga
, ex-
MD Anderson
chief
Ron DePinho
,
BridgeBio
co-founder
Peter Feinberg
,
Tvardi Therapeutics
CSO
Jeno Gyuris
, and entrepreneur
Alex Cranberg
.
As an “inquisitive and curious” kid, Rakhit was always playing with bugs and flowers, or looking for constellations. But it wasn’t until he was older that he decided to pursue a career in healthcare.
After getting his bachelor’s degree in molecular biology from UC-Berkeley, he went straight into medical school at Tufts University. He followed that up with a residency in pediatrics at Tufts, a stint working with
the
Mother Teresa at an orphanage in Kolkata, India, and a fellowship in cardiology at Boston Children’s Hospital.
Rakhit ended up on the staff at Boston Children’s for a while, but he eventually craved more. He began toying with the idea of a career in the biopharma industry, making drugs instead of prescribing them.
“While as a physician you can take care of one person, which is very, very meaningful… but in the industry, what we get to do is affect millions of lives,” he told
Endpoints News.
In 2001, he took a job at
Bristol Myers Squibb
, where he worked on the blockbuster blood-thinning drug
Plavix
.
“That’s where I learned the business,” he said, adding that he remained at BMS for almost 10 years, before that “inquisitiveness and curiosity” led him to
Biogen
.
“I really wanted to be in a smaller company and see what that was like,” he said.
Steve Holtzman
recruited Rakhit to Biogen in 2011, where he joined the ALS team. After an unsuccessful Phase III readout, he pivoted over to the
Spinraza
team, which later became the first drug approved to treat spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). Rakhit recalled that during his residency, he treated a child with SMA who died without an available treatment.
“(That) really brought it back home, why I got into medicine and why I went into industry,” he said.
Rakhit continued working on neuro at Ovid, where he eventually worked his way up to CMO and president before leaving for Sporos in August. Sporos touts itself as an “innovation hub,” sporting four portfolio companies as well as a suite of in-house small molecule programs. The company nabbed $38.1 million in a Series A round back in May, and soon plans to kick off its own internal antibody engine, according to Rakhit, who said the upstart is experiencing a period of “explosive growth.”
—
Nicole DeFeudis
→ At the forefront of studying the blood-brain barrier,
Denali
raised the window on Hunter syndrome data in late July in which the South San Francisco biotech found positives — and analysts expressed concerns. Two months later,
Katie Peng
has been named
chief commercial officer at Denali, even though none of its drugs are close to launch yet. Peng had been associated with
Roche
and
Genentech
for the past 16 years, taking charge of Genentech’s OMNI (ophthalmology, metabolism, neuroscience, immunology) business unit before leaping to Denali.
Some analysts particularly soured on Denali’s muddled
results
for the neurofilament biomarker while giving themselves wiggle room to be swayed down the road. “Bottom line, these data are clearly not encouraging, but we don’t disagree with management that it may be too early to see anything as we don’t fully understand the kinetics of NfL changes, especially in a treatment setting,” wrote
Stifel
’s
Paul Matteis
.
→
Michael Amoroso
should pay rent in Peer Review as much as he’s been here in the last year. He turns up again this week by
replacing
Matt Kane
starting Oct. 15 as president and CEO of Durham, NC-based
Precision BioSciences
, which got a shot in the arm from
Jim Wilson
back in February when he
used
Precision’s ARCUS gene editing platform for his PCSK9 study. We documented Amoroso’s meteoric ascent through the ranks at
Abeona
in last week’s edition when
he was named
chairman and then passed the CEO torch to
Vishwas Seshadri
. Before joining Abeona, Amoroso was
Kite
’s chief commercial officer, and earlier he was SVP, Americas commercial, oncology business group at
Eisai
.
→ With its RARα agonist
tamibarotene
in a Phase II acute myeloid leukemia trial in combination with
venetoclax
and
azacitidine
,
Syros
has looked to
Novartis
for its first CCO.
Conley Chee
has spent the last 15 years at the pharma giant, concluding his tenure as global head of portfolio management, global pipeline strategy and precision medicine. Chee’s Big Pharma background doesn’t stop there: He’s also been
Pfizer
’s team leader of international business development. During last year’s ASH conference,
Bain Capital
pumped in
more than $90 million of financing as Syros charges ahead with a pipeline that’s also comprised of
SY-2101
and oral CDK7 inhibitor
SY-5609
.
→
Molly Harper
is moving on after just a year as EVP of operations at
Relmada Therapeutics
,
grabbing
a C-suite gig as CBO of Cambridge, MA synbio player and
Ginkgo
collaborator
Synlogic
. We
covered
Harper’s jump to Relmada in May 2020 from
Akcea
, where she was SVP and global franchise general manager, and at
Sanofi Genzyme
she led US endocrinology in the rare disease division. In recent months she’s also tallied board seats at
PreciseDx
and
Catalyst Pharmaceuticals
.
→ In this week’s first example of top talent at
Alexion
packing their bags after the
AstraZeneca
takeover
, UK-based iron deficiency biotech
Shield Therapeutics
has welcomed
Sanofi Genzyme vet
Jose Menoyo
as CMO. Menoyo has experience with companies that AstraZeneca fancies, recently leading US medical affairs at Alexion and serving as SVP of medical affairs at
ZS Pharma
, which AstraZeneca acquired in 2015. Toward the end of his time at Sanofi, Menoyo was VP, renal global medical affairs and division medical officer, specialty care division.
→ Also putting the “ex” in Alexion,
Lori Escobedo
has been named
chief people officer of biomolecular condensate specialist
Dewpoint Therapeutics
, one of this year’s Endpoints 11
honorees
. Escobedo filled the VP of HR role supporting R&D, medical affairs, and legal functions at Alexion, and for 12 years before that, she was in HR leadership at
Sandoz
and Novartis. CSO
Isaac Levin
and SVP of chemistry and drug discovery
Michael Wagner
are other execs who have joined Dewpoint since
Ameet Nathwani
took
the top spot almost one year ago.
→ Wrapping up this little sub-section,
Karen-Leigh Edwards
has bought her ticket out of Alexion as well,
signing on
to Bedford, MA-based eye disease biotech
Ocular Therapeutix
as SVP of technical operations. Edwards spent five years at Alexion, eventually leading external manufacturing and operations before this opportunity came into view. Edwards became associate director, global supply chain during the second of her two tenures with Biogen.
→
Bayer
has turned to
Nicole Hayes
to be director of US external communications after nearly three years with
The Bountiful Company
, whose core brands like
Nature’s Bounty
and
Ester-C
are now under the control of
Nestlé Health Science
in a $5.75 billion acquisition. Hayes has also led external communications at
Toys “R” Us
.
→ German antisense oligonucleotide biotech
Isarna Therapeutics
has tapped
Claus Schalper
as CEO. Schalper tries his hand at leading another company after co-founding
Pieris
, where he was also CFO, and co-founding and handling CEO duties at
XL-protein GmbH
. Putting its eggs in the ophthalmology basket for now, Isarna’s lead candidate
ISTH0036
will imminently start Phase IIa trials for AMD and DME.
→ Radiopharma is all the rage with
ITM
,
Aktis
and
RayzeBio
gathering up some serious coin in the space this year — and
Fusion Pharmaceuticals
is in the middle of the action too,
appointing
Mohit Rawat
president and CBO. Rawat hails from
Novartis Oncology
, where he was VP and global disease lead for the chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) franchise and at one time was the marketing director for
Cosentyx
. Incidentally, Novartis has made another stride in with its radiopharma ambition with a breakthrough therapy
designation
for
177
Lu-PSMA-617, a product of its 2018 acquisition of
Endocyte
.
→ New York-based cancer metastasis biotech
HiberCell
has brought on
Jonathan Lanfear
to be the new COO, coming shortly after HiberCell
bought out
Genuity Science
in August with its genomics tools and AI platform. Lanfear, a Pfizer alum in business development, joins HiberCell after leaving
Takeda
last year, finishing his nine years there as the global head of business R&D.
→
Lise Lund Kjems
has joined
Gainesville, FL-based
Cyclo Therapeutics
as CMO. Kjems spent nearly a decade at Novartis before most recently serving as VP, head of clinical development at
Albireo
. At Cyclo, she replaces acting CMO
Gerald Cox
, who now shifts to the company’s scientific advisory board.
→ With BARDA’s financial assistance, Sioux Falls-based
SAB Biotherapeutics
is on the march to Phase III with
SAB-185
, its intravenous polyclonal antibody treatment for Covid-19, and
has welcomed
Big Pharma vet
Russell Beyer
as CFO. Starting well before the 1999 merger, Beyer was AstraZeneca’s CFO for Puerto Rico and Mexico, and he’s recently been senior director of finance at
Teva
for seven years. At the beginning of the summer, SAB announced it would merge with
Big Cypress Acquisition Corp.
in a $325 million SPAC deal.
→ Getting its house in order commercially for BTK inhibitor
tirabrutinib
,
Ono Pharmaceutical
’s US sub
Ono Pharma USA
has recruited
David Trexler
as CCO. Recently the president and a board member at
MorphoSys
— which snapped up
Constellation Pharmaceuticals
for $1.7 billion a few months back — Trexler was the global brand lead for
Bavencio
and the SVP, US oncology commercial for
EMD Serono
. He also logged 10 years at Eisai in various business and marketing positions.
→
Chun-Pyn Shen
has made his way over to
Impact
Therapeutics
, where he’s taking on the role of head of regulatory affairs (VP). Shen hops aboard the Shanghai-based company from
DymaniCure
Biotechnology
, where he served as VP, global project head. Shen jumpstarted his career at Merck and spent a decade with the company before heading over to
Adaptimmune
to served as director, clinical research and development and later on
Questcor
/
Mallinckrodt
. Additionally, during his time at Merck KGaA, Shen made significant contributions to the approval of Bavencio.
→ Striking a huge
deal
with
Boehringer Ingelheim
earlier this month — up to $710 million in milestones — to allow the German pharma to gain entry into its antibody “library of libraries,”
Emily Leproust
’s DNA manufacturing squad at
Twist Bioscience
has turned to
Dennis Cho
as SVP, general counsel and chief ethics and compliance officer. Cho leaves
CytomX
after only eight months as assistant general counsel and has also brought his legal expertise to
Seagen
and, for nine years,
Celgene
.
→
Brii Bio
celebrated its $320 million
arrival
on the Hong Kong stock exchange with comeback
data
in the NIH-backed trial for its Covid-19 antibody combo last month.
Zhi Hong
-led Brii also has a new exec on board with
Coy Stout
taking the role
of SVP and head of US market access and patient advocacy. Thus ends a 17-year relationship Stout had in several capacities with
Gilead
that drew to a close as VP of US commercial access and reimbursement.
→
Vaxart
just revealed that
James Cummings
has taken over
as CMO this month. Cummings was previously president of
Icon
’s federal business unit,
Icon GPHS
, and VP of clinical development and translational medicine at
Novavax
. It’s a pivotal hire for
Andrei Floroiu
’s bunch at the South San Francisco vaccine biotech as Phase II trials get underway for its oral tablet Covid-19 vaccine.
→ Swiss uterine fibroid biotech
ObsEva
has named
Luigi Marro
as its new chief transformation officer effective today. An alum of
Finox Biotech
as CFO and Merck Serono in global strategy, Marro is added to the leadership roster after Merck spinout
Organon
inked
a $500 million deal in July for worldwide rights to ObsEva’s preterm labor treatment
ebopiprant
.
→ After
Avinash Desai
earned a promotion to CMO of
Actinium
, his predecessor
Mark Berger
is taking
the same job in the Lone Star State at Austin-based gene therapy outfit
Genprex
. Prior to his time at Actinium, Berger was SVP of clinical research at
Kadmon
and the CMO at
Deciphera Pharmaceuticals
. The C-suite at Genprex also grows with
Hemant Kumar
, a Big Pharma vet who settles into the new position of chief manufacturing and technology officer. Kumar’s been involved in manufacturing and technical operations with heavy hitters like
Merck
,
Lonza
and
Janssen
, and he heads to Genprex after a stint as VP, global head of manufacturing, supply chain, and strategy at
Arcturus
.
→ The
Center for Breakthrough Medicines
has tapped
Peter Carbone
as its COO. Carbone hails from
Accorda
Therapeutics
, where he most recently served as EVP, quality. In addition to his stint at Accorda, Carbone joins with experience from his times at Novartis, Bayer and
Amgen
.
→
Nanocan Therapeutics
has brought on
Elizabeth Charlotte Moser
as CSO. Moser joins the Princeton, NJ-based company from
Galera Therapeutics
, where she was VP for clinical development. Prior to that, she held positions at
Elekta
and
Champalimaud Foundation
.
→
Rob Rode
takes over
the CCO position at
Apnimed
as the company expands its leadership following such appointments as CFO
Michael Rogers
and SVP of medical affairs
David White
. Before joining Apnimed, which focuses on developing treatments for sleep apnea, Rode served as VP of commercial operations for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases at Merck.
→
Prime Therapeutics
has reeled in
Chris Knibb
to be its new CFO, taking over for
Dave Schlett,
who is transitioning to the role of EVP, chief client relationship and administrative officer. Knibb most recently served as CFO at
SOC Telemed
and previously served as
Express Scripts’
SVP of finance and chief accounting officer.
→ Sandwiched in between The Ohio State University and the famed Jack Nicklaus-designed Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, immunodiagnostic and immunotherapy biotech
Navidea Biopharmaceuticals
has tapped
Michel Mikhail
as chief regulatory officer. Mikhail has been a regulatory exec for a variety of companies, including
BioNTech
,
Fresenius Kabi
,
GlaxoSmithKline
when it was
SmithKline Beecham
, and Boehringer Ingelheim.
→
Barbara Regonini
has taken on
the newly created post of finance director at Milan-based hematopoietic stem cell gene therapy biotech
Genenta Science
, which is in Phase I/II with
Temferon
for patients with glioblastoma multiforme. Regonini, formerly a senior manager at PwC, was recently CFO at OAM, an Italian financial brokerage company. Elsewhere at Genenta,
Brad Loncar
— an invaluable Endpoints resource — is on board as a strategic advisor, along with
Alec Ross
and
Rocket Pharmaceuticals
CEO
Gaurav Shah
.
→ Backed by
MPM
and
OrbiMed
,
ReCode Therapeutics
has been methodically assembling its leadership since taking the wraps off its lipid nanoparticle (LNP) delivery platform to the tune of an $80 million
Series A
in March 2020. ReCode now
brings in
Nick France
as SVP of clinical development after two years as
Escape Bio
’s head of clinical research. At
Roivant
and
Axovant
, France was senior director, clinical development for neurosciences and rare diseases, and he’s also held clinical development posts at
Strongbridge Biopharma
,
CSL Behring
and GSK.
→
Craig Masse
has been promoted
to SVP of discovery research at
Ajax Therapeutics
out of New York, co-founded by partner
Schrödinger
and taking aim at hematologic malignancies using computational chemistry. Masse, who first joined Ajax in 2019, was the head of medicinal chemistry during his eight-year run at
Nimbus
. Furthermore, Ajax has brought on
Christina Riordan
as VP of preclinical development. Riordan brings a wealth of experience in toxicology from Biogen,
Epizyme
,
Agenus
,
Surface Oncology
and until her move to Ajax,
Certara
.
→ The Italian venture capital firm
Panakès Partners
has named
Rob Woodman
as partner, leading the firm’s newly created biotech investment team. Most recently, Woodman served as senior partner at
Takeda Ventures
. Panakès
entered
the biotech sector back in July with its $180 million fund to support “underserved” life sciences companies in Europe.
→ Right on the heels of an $11.5 billion
acquisition
of
Acceleron
, Merck
has promoted
Thomas Glocer
to independent lead director. A member of Merck’s board of directors since 2007, he comes from the finance world as the current lead director of
Morgan Stanley
.
→
EQRx
has appointed
Kathy Giusti
to its board of directors. Giusti, who founded and serves as chief mission officer at the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, also founded the Harvard Business School Kraft Precision Medicine Accelerator. Looking to shake up drug pricing, EQRx
reverse merged
with the
CM Life Sciences III
SPAC back in August, netting the new biotech $1.8 billion, while appointing
Melanie Nallicheri
as CEO. She takes over from
Alexis Borisy
, who becomes the executive chairman of EQRx’s board of directors.
→
Incyte
doubled its fun last week with FDA approvals of
ruxolitinib
for
atopic dermatitis
and
chronic graft-versus-host disease
, and
Otis Brawley
now joins
Incyte’s board of directors. Brawley, the chief medical and scientific officer of the
American Cancer Society
from 2007-18, is the Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Oncology and Epidemiology at Johns Hopkins.
→ GSK neuro partner
Alector
has given
ex-Novartis SVP global head of clinical development
Elizabeth Garofalo
a seat on the board of directors alongside
Tillman Gerngross
and
Terry McGuire
, among others. The principal for
EAG Pharma Consulting
, Garofalo is a board member at
Xenon Pharmaceuticals
,
Exicure
and
Acadia Pharmaceuticals
.
→ Newly retired from AstraZeneca,
Ann Taylor
has signed on
to the board of directors at
Terns Pharmaceuticals
, which has reasons for optimism with its
June data
in a thorny NASH field. Taylor was head of clinical biologics at AstraZeneca sub
MedImmune
before becoming CMO at AstraZeneca in April 2019.
→
Andrew Allen
has joined
the board of directors at
Verge Genomics
,
Alice Zhang
’s AI-driven upstart that’s teaming up with
Eli Lilly
in the neuro space, particularly ALS. Allen, who co-founded and is president and CEO of
Gritstone Bio
, is also on the boards of Epizyme,
TCR² Therapeutics
and
Sierra Oncology
.
→
Ran Zheng
has taken a seat
on the board of directors at
Jennifer Doudna
‘s CRISPR genome editing upstart Caribou Biosciences. The current CEO of
Landmark Bio
is a longtime Amgen vet who was also chief technical officer of
Orchard Therapeutics
.
→ New York-based
Phosplatin Therapeutics
has enlisted
Elizabeth Tallett
to its board of directors. This isn’t Tallett’s first board appointment. Currently, she has seats on the boards of
Moderna
,
Anthem
and
Qiagen
. Tallett was the former president and CEO of
Transcell Technologies
and a principal at
Hunter
Partners
. Prior to those roles, Tallett was president of
Centocor Pharmaceuticals
.
→ Oxford “dark antigen” startup
Enara Bio
— in a
partnership
with Boehringer Ingelheim to develop therapies that target lung and GI cancers —
has added
Robert Ang
to the board of directors. Since 2019, Ang has been president and CEO of
Vor Biopharma
.
→
MAIA Biotechnology
has appointed
Steven Chaouki
to its board of directors. Chaouki currently served as president, US markets & consumer interactive of
TransUnion
and previously served as EVP, financial services for the company.
Derek Graf and Paul Schloesser contributed to this edition.