→ When
Mythic Therapeutics
CEO
Alex Nichols
spoke to
Endpoints News
last December
about the biotech’s $103 million Series B
, he and fellow co-founder
Brian Fiske
emphasized safety, saying that they’re “really working on trying to overcome what has been one of the most historically challenging obstacles to realizing the full potential of ADCs.” But Mythic will have to look for someone else to take up that mantle.
Nichols
has moved on
from the Waltham, MA-based biotech “in order to pursue new opportunities,” while Fiske remains CSO. Additionally, Mythic’s new chief development officer is
Daiichi Sankyo
vet
Gilles Gallant
, who knows ADCs well from his work with
Enhertu
as global head of oncology clinical development. Gallant came to Daiichi Sankyo in 2017 from
BioMarin
, where he was VP, oncology clinical sciences, and he also held several oncology posts at
Bristol Myers Squibb
from 1991-2002.
Fiske, Gallant and COO
Sandra Poole
will run the company until a CEO is found.
→ Taking aim at IL-2 and IL-18,
Versant
upstart
Bright Peak Therapeutics
has tapped
Jon Wigginton
as president of R&D. At Bristol Myers, he ran early clinical development of an I/O portfolio that produced the
Opdivo
/
Vervoy
combo therapy — which went on to collect multiple approvals after his departure. The CMO of
MacroGenics
from 2013-20
and a 15-year vet of the National Cancer Institute, Wigginton then took off for
Cullinan Oncology
, first as medical chief and later as senior advisor and chairman of its scientific advisory board. Unlike many other biotechs that are struggling to scale craggy financial mountains, Bright Peak isn’t strapped for cash
after a $107 million Series B
in June 2021.
→ As Amber Tong told you at the start of the week,
Thomas Willemsen
will take over
as CEO of Singapore’s
Tessa Therapeutics
on Oct. 1. Several chief executives have shuttled in and out of the CAR-T biotech, including
Jeff Buchalter
,
Andrew Khoo
, and acting chief
John Ng
, who will slide into the role of chief technical officer. Willemsen winds down his three-year run at
Takeda
, where he was SVP, Asia-Pacific, and he held multiple leadership posts in China and Taiwan within a 10-year period at
GSK
. His connection to the Asia-Pacific region began at
Merck KGaA,
but he ended his time at the multinational as head of its German oncology business unit in 2009.
→ Another week, another big
Kriya Therapeutics
appointment: This time, the gene therapy joint led by
Shankar Ramaswamy
has recruited
Curt Herberts
as president and COO. Herberts breaks away from
Tim Lu
’s crew at
Senti Biosciences
, where he juggled the CFO and CBO posts from 2018-21 and had been COO since last year. He also had an eight-year run at
Sangamo
, ascending to business chief in 2016. Kriya
welcomed
Pedro Huertas
just last week as CMO of its rare disease division.
→
Celsius Therapeutics
has appointed
Sarah Grant
as CMO. Grant joins from Novartis, where she most recently served as chief of staff and strategic assistant for the head of global drug development. Her other roles at Novartis included head of respiratory discovery within translational medicine and roles in the pulmonary and immunology indications. Prior to her career at Novartis, Grant was with Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
→
Liz McKee Anderson
has left the board of directors at monkeypox vaccine maker
Bavarian Nordic
to take a board seat at GSK
. McKee Anderson rounded out her 11-year tenure with
Janssen
in 2014 as the worldwide VP and commercial leader in infectious diseases and vaccines, and she sits on the boards of BioMarin,
Revolution Medicines,
Insmed
and
Aro Biotherapeutics
. Dana-Farber president and CEO
Laurie Glimcher
will step down from the board on Oct. 13,
an announcement that was made
during a busy few months at the pharma giant that have included the
Sierra Oncology
buyout
, the
wobbly start to the consumer health spinoff
Haleon
, and
an ADC deal
with
Mersana Therapeutics
.
→ Ex-
CVS Health
CEO
Larry Merlo
will chair
what’s currently known as
J&J
’s New Consumer Health Company,
which will be helmed
by
Thibaut Mongon
. The announcement comes after
Mathai Mammen
shockingly split the scene as the pharma giant’s R&D chief
a couple weeks ago, with
William Hait
— J&J’s EVP, chief external innovation, medical safety and global public health officer — pinch-hitting in the interim. The consumer health split is slated to take effect next year.
→ Against the backdrop of last month’s Phase III dud
with its alcohol use disorder drug AD04
,
Adial Pharmaceuticals
has appointed
Cary Claiborne
as CEO while
William Stilley
— Adial’s chief executive since 2010 — becomes CEO of the Virginia biotech’s subsidiary
Purnovate
. Claiborne joined Adial last December as COO, and he’s made several stops as a CFO with such companies as
Indivior
,
Sucampo Pharmaceuticals
and
Osiris Therapeutics
. One other snippet of Adial info:
Kevin Schuyler
, a board member since 2016, has been named chairman.
→ In wait-and-see mode after the FDA imposed an
islatravir
-related hold on HIV candidate
BRII-732
,
Brii Biosciences
has welcomed
Eleanor de Groot
as chief technology officer and
Aleksandar Skuban
as CNS diseases therapy area head. A former
Helsinn
exec, de Groot was with
Alaunos Therapeutics
(known as
Ziopharm
until January
) since 2015 and had served as EVP of operations for almost a year. After a handful of posts in a seven-year period with
Otsuka
, Skuban headed to
Alexion
as executive medical director in its ophthalmology therapeutic area. Since last November, he had been SVP of clinical development at
Better Therapeutics
.
→ No sooner
had the gene therapy drug
Zynteglo
been approved
for transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia than
Anne-Virginie Eggimann
was out of the picture at
bluebird bio
. Two days removed from the Zynteglo triumph, she’s now the chief regulatory officer at
Flagship
gene writing outfit
Tessera Therapeutics
after a year in the same position at bluebird and 11 years overall. And
Derica Rice
, who had a 27-year career with
Eli Lilly
before joining CVS Health, has been elected to Tessera’s board of directors. Kyle LaHucik
has more about this move at Tessera
,
currently run by
former
AbbVie
exec
Michael Severino
.
→
Lauren Sabella
is out as COO
of
Acorda Therapeutics
, which sent pink slips
to 15% of its staff
nearly a year ago and has felt the budget crunch before. With the resignation, effective Sept. 30, SVPs
Sofia Ali
and
Susan Way
will be splitting COO duties. Sabella spent six years with
Boehringer Ingelheim
and was Acorda’s chief commercial officer for 11 years before she was named operations chief in September 2021, when the recent round of job cuts took hold at the
Inbrija
maker.
→ The resignations don’t stop there:
Acerus Pharmaceuticals
CEO
Robert Motz
will exit
stage left, but it won’t take effect until Nov. 20, which buys some time for the Toronto-based men’s health company to find a successor. Motz had handled finances at Acerus since October 2018.
→
Biotheryx
has enlisted
Tracy Lawhon
as chief development officer, the latest C-suite move at the San Diego protein degradation shop after CFO
Jeff Caravella
’s appointment in April. For the last year and change, Lawhon was VP of strategic development and clinical operations with Flagship’s
Valo Health
. She’s also held posts at
Eli Lilly
,
Novartis
and Schering-Plough Research Institute.
→ Swiss I/O startup
CDR-Life
, which hit paydirt
with a $76 million Series A
from
RA Capital
,
Jeito Capital
and
Omega Funds
in April,
has installed
Swethajit Biswas
as CMO. At
Adaptimmune
, Biswas was the development leader for MAGE-A4, the type of T cell engager that CDR-Life is hoping to push into the clinic first with
CDR404
. He was also a clinical director in oncology drug development during his five years with GSK.
→ Another company that
notched a Series A round in April
— Bay Area startup
Ansa Biotechnologies
—
has recruited
Jeremiah Hanes
as SVP of R&D. Hanes spent the last 13 years at
Pacific Biosciences
, starting as a senior scientist and working his way up to VP of reagents R&D in 2020.
Northpond Ventures
led the group of investors that contributed to the $68 million round for Ansa, built on CEO
Daniel Lin-Arlow
’s assertion that it has the “best DNA synthesis method in the world.”
→ Nov. 1 will be
Henriette Wennicke
’s
first day as CFO
of
Zealand Pharma
, the Danish biotech that has suffered from lackluster sales with
Zegalogue
and
chopped 90% of its US staff
while changing CEOs. Wennicke spent a decade with
Novo Nordisk
before jumping to
GN Group
, where she’s now VP and head of investor relations and treasury at hearing aid maker
GN Store Nord
. In May, Zealand whistled a different tune with Zegalogue after
hitting its primary endpoint
in a Phase III trial for children aged 7 days to 12 months with congenital hyperinsulinism.
→ To the beautiful state of Utah we go — Peer Review recommends a visit to any one of its national parks — as Salt Lake City-based
Elevar Therapeutics
promotes
Wade Smith
to CFO. Smith had been head of US institutional commercial/finance at
Viatris
before pivoting to Elevar as VP of finance in January. Elevar has continued to assemble its C-suite with the additions of chief commercial officer
Paul Friel
, CMO
Jan Van Tornout
, and chief regulatory officer
Gordon Schooley
after bringing in
Alnylam
vet
Saeho Chong
as CEO in March.
→
Tom Van Blarcom
has stepped up
to the plate as SVP, head of research at
Kyverna Therapeutics
, an autoimmune disease biotech
that garnered an $85 million Series B round
in January for its synReg approach to CAR-T therapies. Van Blarcom, who succeeds CSO and scientific co-founder
Jeffrey Greve
, is a
Pfizer
alum who joined
David Chang
’s squad at
Allogene
as interim head of translational sciences in 2020 and eventually became the CAR-T player’s executive director, head of protein engineering and research operations.
→ San Diego-based biotech
Plexium
— which
struck a deal
with AbbVie in April —
has welcomed
Daniel Sipes
to the team as SVP, head of technology. Prior to his new role, Sipes was SVP, strategy and operations, site head San Diego at
Strateos
. Before that, Sipes had gigs at Novartis Research Foundation,
Kalypsys
and
Ligand
Pharmaceuticals
.
→ Thinking big picture with its COPD drug
ensifentrine
after
positive Phase III data
were the catalyst
for a public offering
—
an approach used
by
many a biotech
these days —
Verona Pharma
has made
two commercial hires with
Matthew Casbon
as VP of sales, marketing and training, and
Matthew Rysavy
as VP of market access and trade. Casbon and Rysavy were both at
Salix Pharmaceuticals
at the same time, with Casbon as associate VP of marketing and Rysavy climbing up to the role of senior national account manager Casbon was recently CBO of
Target RWE
, and Rysavy had been head of market access and trade since 2018 at
BioDelivery Sciences International
.
→
Mark Dizon
has left
BeiGene
to take on the role
of general counsel at AbbVie partner
Frontier Medicines
, a protein degradation player which is targeting the KRAS-G12C mutation. Dizon was BeiGene’s assistant general counsel and chief compliance officer since 2018, and the Novartis vet has also been a compliance exec with
Affymax
,
Actelion
,
Relypsa
and
Prothena
.
→ Irvine, CA-based AI medtech
GATC Health
has named
Robert Sorrentino
as CMO. Before founding his own consulting firm, Sorrentino filled an array of AI roles, including chief medical scientist at the IBM Watson Research Center.
→
Allucent
is picking up
Steffany Cox
as chief marketing officer. Before making her way to Allucent, Cox served in roles at
Labcorp
(SVP of product management and segment growth),
Covance
and Eli Lilly.
→
Biosion
has named
Steven Knapp
as chief regulatory & quality officer. Most recently, Knapp was SVP of global regulatory and quality at
Antares Pharmaceuticals
. Before that, Knapp served at
Valeant
Pharmaceuticals
.
→
Biorchestra
has signed on
Gabriel Helmlinger
as VP, head of translational & clinical pharmacology, toxicology. Helmlinger has had stints at Novartis,
AstraZeneca
and
Obsidian Therapeutics
.
→
Brent Saunders
is making an appearance
on the board of directors of
GLO Pharma
. Since his departure from
Allergan
, Saunders chairs the board at
OcuTerra
and is executive chairman of
The Beauty Health Company
, a merger between
The HydraFacial Company
and
Vesper
Healthcare Acquisition Corp
.
→
Boasting a Phase III win
for
patisiran
to treat ATTR amyloidosis with cardiomyopathy,
Alnylam
has reserved space
for ex-Bristol Myers CSO and R&D chief
Elliott Sigal
on the board of directors. Sigal co-chairs the SAB at
Amgen
and has a plethora of board seats at
Adaptimmune
,
Vir Biotechnology
,
Surface Oncology
, Tessera Therapeutics and
Affinia Therapeutics
.
→ With its lead drug for membranous nephropathy in early-stage trials
after a $70 million Series A
in April 2021,
ValenzaBio
has elected
Aurinia
CEO
Peter Greenleaf
to the board of directors. The ex-
Cerecor
chief has also been a board member at
Antares Pharma
, which was sold to
Halozyme
this spring
for $960 million
.
→
Jane Bell
has joined
the board of directors of
Mesoblast
, the Australian stem cell therapy biotech
that has been reeling
from broken Big Pharma partnerships and late-stage flops. The deputy chair of
Monash Health
, Bell is also a board member at Melbourne-based
Amplia Therapeutics
.
→ Now partnering with Pfizer on an old AstraZeneca drug named
RIST4721
after
initially striking the deal with Arena
last summer,
Aristea Therapeutics
has added
Poseida Therapeutics
CEO
Mark Gergen
and
Novo Ventures
partner
Daniel O’Connell
to the board of directors.
Michael Vincent
, SVP and CSO of Pfizer’s inflammation and immunology research unit, will be a board observer.
→
Sequana Medical
has appointed
Alexandra Clyde
to its board of directors, taking over for
Erik Amble,
who is stepping down. Clyde is SVP of global health economics, policy and reimbursement for
Medtronic
.