Albert Seymour
After a multi-year run as co-workers at
Shire Pharmaceuticals
,
Arthur Tzianabos
and
Albert Seymour
got the band back together in 2016 as two of the early-days employees at
Homology Medicines
.
Tzianabos as CEO and Seymour as science chief of the genetic medicine-focused biotech “was not really ready for prime time,” in the words of Seymour. The plan from the start was to have Seymour assume the chief executive duties once the biotech was fully in the clinic with multiple programs to account for.
“When we saw the technology that Homology had to offer with these 15 novel AAV serotypes that were naturally derived from human stem cells, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take that next step and give it a try,” Seymour told
Endpoints News
, reflecting on his 6.5 years at the Bedford, MA, biotech, of which he was the sixth employee.
On Sept. 6, the expected management shuffle took place, with Tzianabos moving to the board chair role and Seymour succeeding him at steering the ship, which the new CEO said is “really well-positioned from a cash-flow perspective.”
With the leadership moves, existing board chair
Kush Parmar
is out. The
5AM Ventures
managing partner sits on the board of a slate of biotechs like
Akouos
,
Vor Biopharma
,
Rallybio
,
Entrada Therapeutics
and others. And Homology has announced a CSO successor.
“I’d much rather give an opportunity to some of the young talented scientists that we have in the organization,” Seymour said, “to develop perhaps into that role as opposed to going out and hiring someone.”
His main priorities in the new post center around clinical development, especially since the biotech
prioritized its clinical plans
last month, halting enrollment in a gene therapy trial and seeking a partner on another gene therapy so that a gene editing program in PKU can persist.
A gene editing program for metachromatic leukodystrophy, or MLD, showed promise in preclinical work, but the asset is still about 18 to 24 months from human testing, Seymour said, so the company is instead searching for somebody to tie up with.
“We’re actively talking to a lot of potential partners,” including those with rare disease, lysosomal storage disorders and global experience, Seymour said.
—
Kyle LaHucik
Jerry McMahon
→ As shares tumbled and its lead prostate cancer program
HPN424
underwhelmed at last year’s ASCO conference,
Jerry McMahon
resigned as CEO
of
Harpoon Therapeutics
and was replaced by
Julie Eastland
in October 2021. But the skies are getting a little brighter for McMahon, even though the name of his new company doesn’t reflect it.
He’s been named
chief executive at
Storm Therapeutics
, an RNA epigenetics player out of Cambridge, UK, that
formed a cancer alliance
with
Exelixis
which is going after the RNA editing enzyme ADAR1 first. Incidentally, Harpoon
waved the white flag
on HPN424 in March, and the staff shakeup continued
with the June 1 resignation
of CMO
Natalie Sacks
.
Cindy Atwell
→
Cindy Atwell
and
Jeff Smith
are moving on up
at
Precision BioSciences
under first-year CEO
Michael Amoroso
, as Atwell gets promoted to CBO and Smith takes on the role of chief research officer. A Precision exec since 2019, Atwell was previously SVP of business development and alliance management and has held business development positions at
AbbVie
and
Halozyme
. Smith, the ex-chief technology officer, helped co-found Precision in 2006 with
Matt Kane
and
Derek Jantz
. In other Precision developments, Jantz now has a modified title — chief scientific officer & strategy — that allows him to work with Amoroso “in formulating company strategy and managing relationships with external stakeholders, including current and potential collaboration partners.” Because of this change, Jantz will no longer be a member of Precision’s board of directors.
Timothy Wright
→ Georgia-based
MiMedx
— once embroiled in controversy over CEO
Parker “Pete” Petit
’s schemes to boost their sales figures,
resulting in a 2020 fraud conviction
— is changing chief executives again. With
Timothy Wright
’s exit, the allograft maker
has tapped
Todd Newton
as interim CEO while the search gets underway for a permanent replacement. Newton, a board member at MiMedx for three years, is a
Deloitte
vet who was CEO of Austin, TX medtech
Apollo Endosurgery
from 2014-21.
→
AAVantgarde Bio
has saddled up
Natalia
Misciattelli
as CEO. Misciattelli makes her way to the Milan-based company from
NovalGen
, where she served as CBO. Prior to that, Misciattelli was SVP, strategy and operations for
Freeline
Therapeutics
.
Peter Pfreundschuh
→
Al Sandrock
is busy assembling his team
of execs at
Voyager
:
Peter Pfreundschuh
(CFO) has held the same position at a number of stops, including
Immunomedics
,
Sucampo Pharmaceuticals
(which he helped sell to
Mallinckrodt
for $1.2 billion
),
UroGen
and, until April,
Frequency Therapeutics
.
Todd Carter
(CSO), who first jumped on board at Voyager as senior director of neuroscience in 2016, earns this latest promotion after six months as SVP of research. And
Trista Morrison
(SVP, corporate affairs) first appeared in this space two years ago when she became
Saniona
’s chief communications officer. The
Sobi
and
Ironwood
vet had been elevated to chief corporate affairs officer in March, but she left the next month to start her own consulting firm. All three appointments take effect on Sept. 19.
Andy Schmeltz
→ In case you missed it last Friday,
Pfizer
’s
Andy Schmeltz
is starting a new gig
as SVP, commercial strategy & innovation, while
Suneet Varma
— the global president of rare disease since 2020 — has replaced Schmeltz as global oncology & US president. And in this particular game of musical chairs,
Kevin Sullivan
will take over for Varma.
That leads us to
GlycoMimetics
, where the one-time Pfizer sickle cell partner
has appointed
GSK
and
Otsuka
alum
Edwin Rock
as CMO. Formerly the medical chief at
Partner Therapeutics
, Rock was VP, clinical research at
MacroGenics
from 2017-20. Pfizer is looking to get it right in the sickle cell space with its
$5.4 billion acquisition
of
Global Blood Therapeutics
after the pharma giant and GlycoMimetics
stumbled in Phase III
with
rivipansel
in 2019.
Jessica Stitt
→
Jeff Bluestone
has found a new finance chief
at
Sonoma Biotherapeutics
a little more than a year removed from the Treg biotech’s prodigious
$265 million Series B
.
Jessica Stitt
was on our radar
when she became CFO
of
Gyroscope
in March 2021, and she didn’t hang around
Bristol Myers Squibb
for long after the $13 billion buyout of
MyoKardia
, where she was VP of finance and operations. Earlier, she wrapped up nine years with
Theravance Biopharma
as VP of finance and investor relations. Sonoma
announced in late August
that its manufacturing and R&D presence in Seattle will encompass 83,000 square feet and will be located at Unison Elliott Bay.
Jonathan Biller
→ Winning
an expanded approval
with CF med
Orkambi
for children between 1 and 2 years of age,
Vertex
has installed
Jonathan Biller
as chief legal officer. Vertex poaches Biller from
Agios
, a biotech
undergoing a leadership change
at the top as
Jackie Fouse
entrusted the CEO job to
Brian Goff
on Aug. 8. Biller was hired at Agios as chief legal officer in late 2019, and the ex-
Celgene
general counsel then rose to CFO and head of corporate affairs.
Biren Amin
→ Former
Jefferies
analyst
Biren Amin
is already on to his next challenge,
joining
Pyramid Biosciences
as its new chief financial and strategy officer. Amin
left Jefferies to take the CFO job
at
Immuneering
in April 2021, and earlier in his career, he was with
Prudential Equity Group
and
Aventis Pharmaceuticals
. Pyramid Biosciences, an unheralded cancer biotech developing a pair of TRK inhibitors, is led by Bristol Myers alum
Brian Lestini
.
Jörn Drappa
→
Viela Bio
co-founder
Jörn Drappa
has left
Ventyx Biosciences
after an eight-month stint
to become
CMO of
Alumis
, a
Foresite
biotech now run by ex-
Principia
chief
Martin Babler
that began as
Esker Therapeutics
and
pulled in a $200 million Series B
to start 2022. After
Horizon
bought the
AstraZeneca
spinout
for $3 billion
, Drappa stayed as R&D chief for just a bit until Ventyx came calling. Elsewhere at Alumis,
Genentech
alum
Roman Rubio
has been named SVP, clinical development and translational medicine after six years as an exec at
Revance
,
which crossed the FDA goal line
with its
Botox
rival
Daxxify
on Thursday.
Caroline Rowland
→ Much-hyped AI outfit
Exscientia
has named
Caroline Rowland
as chief people officer. Rowland had held a series of positions at UK software design company
Arm
since 2015 and was VP of talent before her departure. Exscientia made a splash on Nasdaq
with a $304.7 million IPO
on top of multiple nine-figure raises last year, and
teamed up with
Sanofi
in January on an AI pact worth $100 million upfront. Last month, Exscientia and
Bayer
“
mutually agreed to end
” a partnership that dates back to January 2020 after hitting a “proof of concept milestone supporting advancement of the program into late discovery.”
Tim Moore
→
Tim Moore
didn’t survive
PACT Pharma
’s wave of layoffs as the cell therapy biotech
scrapped its lone clinical trial
in late August, but
he has since resurfaced
as COO of Dallas TIL player
Instil Bio
. Moore, the president and COO of PACT Pharma for two years until his dismissal, had a 12-year run at Genentech and then flew into
Kite
as EVP, technical operations from 2016-19. Since
its 2021 IPO
,
Instil Bio
’s stock price
$TIL
has plummeted nearly 80%, an oft-told tale during this bear market.
Gustavo Pesquin
→
Ready for the FDA
to comb through its latest formulation of the Parkinson’s combo
carbidopa
/
levodopa
,
Amneal Pharmaceuticals
has brought in
Gustavo Pesquin
as chief commercial officer, specialty. So ends an 11-year association with Sanofi in a range of roles, including North America head for general medicines and global head of the diabetes and cardiovascular franchise.
Fabio Cataldi
→ Almost three months into
Greg Oakes
’
tenure as the CEO
of
Landos Biopharma
, the
Xontogeny
biotech and
LianBio
IBD partner
has recruited
Fabio Cataldi
as CMO.
Like
Doug Manion
and other execs before him, Cataldi is turning the page after
Pfizer’s $6.7 billion purchase
of
Arena Pharmaceuticals
. Before he was Arena’s VP and therapeutic area head of gastroenterology, Cataldi was team lead of gastroenterology and immunology in global pharmaceutical R&D at AbbVie, and he’s also held leadership roles at
Shire
, Pfizer,
Biogen
and
Novartis
.
Carolyn Bertozzi
→ Stanford chemistry luminary
Carolyn Bertozzi
has been appointed
to the scientific advisory board of
Rondo Therapeutics
, a Bay Area I/O player that got the ball rolling in March
with a $67 million Series A
. Bertozzi has founded a number of biotechs — including
Redwood Bioscience
(which
Catalent
bought in 2014),
Palleon Pharma
and
Lycia Therapeutics
— and she was
one of 15 LGBTQ biopharma leaders that
Endpoints News
featured in June
.
Simon Lowry
→
Simon Lowry
has signed on
as CMO of
Zenas BioPharma
,
Lonnie Moulder
’s autoimmune and rare disease play
that picked up
Xencor
’s
obexelimab
last November. Lowry, the former head of immunology R&D at
Roivant
, has held CMO posts at
Kinevant
and
Sun Pharma North America
. At Novartis, Lowry was VP, global medical affairs franchise head, immunology & dermatology, and to close out his six years at Pfizer, he was VP, oncology medical affairs group leader.
Georgia Erbez
→
Rusty Williams
’ B cell joint
Walking Fish Therapeutics
has welcomed
Georgia Erbez
as COO, almost a year to the day
after its $50 million Series A
. Erbez spent the last four years as CFO of Harpoon Therapeutics and she’s also been finance chief with
Zosano Pharma
and
Revolution Medicines
. Concurrent with her appointment, Walking Fish also announced the opening of its 22,000 square-foot headquarters in South San Francisco.
Howard Bernstein
→ On Oct. 31,
Howard Bernstein
will step aside
as CSO of
SQZ Biotechnologies
and will join the board of directors, chaired by
Polaris
’
Amy Schulman
. CMC SVP
Ipsita Roymoulik
, VP of translational research
Scott Loughhead
and head of engineering
Maisam Dadgar
will split CSO duties. “While it is an emotional experience to step away from my full-time role, I am very proud of my technical leadership team and look forward to seeing them demonstrate their potential,” Bernstein said in a statement.
Garrett Nichols
→
Paul Peter Tak
has filled two key positions
at oncolytic virus biotech
Candel Therapeutics
, which has competition from San Diego-based
IconOVir
Bio
and Germany’s
Abalos Therapeutics
in a field that’s hit into a lot of hazards in the past. New CFO
Jason Amello
comes from Saniona, where he took on the same role for nearly two years, and the
Genzyme
vet was SVP, CFO and treasurer with
Akebia Therapeutics
from 2013-20. Peer Review recently mentioned that
Garrett Nichols
would fill in temporarily
as CMO at
ContraFect
, and he’s heading to Candel in the same capacity after two years as the medical chief at
Istari Oncology
.
Roger Sawhney
→
Garuda Therapeutics
has welcomed aboard
Roger Sawhney
as CFO. This isn’t Sawhney’s first time donning the CFO hat, having served in the same role at
Omega
Therapeutics
. In addition to his role as CFO at Omega, Sawhney also served as the company’s CBO. Earlier in his career, Sawhney had gigs at
Bain Capital
,
Boston Consulting Group
and Novartis.
→ London-based
Purespring Therapeutics
has found itself
a CSO in
Alice
Brown
. Brown brings with her experience from her time at
Takeda
,
GammaDelta Therapeutics
(VP research and VP gene engineering) and
PsiOxus
(director of biology).
→
Lytix Biopharma
has reeled in
Stephen Worsley
as CBO. Worsley hails from Redwood Bioscience/Catalent, where he served as VP strategic business development. Prior to that, Worsley was with
Sutro Biopharma
(CBO),
IndiMolecular
(SVP business development), and
Peregrine Pharmaceutical
(VP of business development).
Trier Bryant
→
Alloy Therapeutics
—the conglomerate of biotech services, technologies and spinouts backed by billionaire investor
Peter Thiel
—
has named
Trier Bryant
president of
82VS
, Alloy’s affiliated venture studio. Bryant comes aboard from aerospace startup
Astra
, where she served as chief people officer. Bryant also has experience under her belt from stints at
Twitter
,
Goldman
Sachs
, and formerly served in the US Air Force.
Lorna Neilson
→
Jeremiah Hanes
jumped on board to lead R&D at
Ansa Biotechnologies
a couple weeks ago, and the DNA synthesis upstart
has quickly followed that up
with the hire of
Lorna Neilson
as CBO. Neilson had spent a decade with
Takara Bio USA
and was VP of corporate development.
→ Backed by
ARCH
and Takeda
in a $24 million Series A round
, tRNA startup
hC Bioscience
has tapped
Yosef Landesman
as CSO and
Gautam Goel
as chief data science officer. Landesman was SVP of research and translational medicine during an 11-year stay at
Karyopharm
, and he also worked on such drugs as
Onpattro
while he was a senior scientist at
Alnylam
. Goel is a translational computational biologist who logged four years with
ImmusanT
as director of precision medicine.
Jenny Holt
→ San Francisco eye disease biotech
Ray Therapeutic
s
has enlisted
Peter Francis
as chief scientific & medical officer and
Jenny Holt
as SVP, program portfolio management. Francis climbed through the ranks at
4D Molecular Therapeutics
, becoming CMO and then CSO at the tail end of his seven-year tenure with the company. Holt is a Novartis vet and also comes from 4DMT, where she was head of program management.
→
Remus Vezan
is joining the team
at
CytoImmune Therapeutics
and taking up a role he’s familiar with as CMO. Vezan previously served as CMO of
CERo Therapeutics
and was the former executive director of clinical development at Kite, overseeing drugs like
Yescarta
and
Tecartus
.
→ Plasma-focused
Evolve Biologics
is bringing aboard
Chris Carr
as CFO. Carr’s career spans roles at
Aeon Biopharma
(CFO),
Dendreon
(EVP of finance and IT),
Abbott Labs
,
PerkinElmer
and Genzyme.
Andrea van Elsas
→
Andrea van Elsas
has been promoted
to partner at
Third Rock Ventures
, which
raised $1.1 billion for its sixth fund
in June. A venture partner at Third Rock since 2020, van Elsas is the interim CSO at
Abata Therapeutics
and is a board member at
Alexis Borisy
-chaired
Celsius Therapeutics
.
→
Led by
Nurix
and
Five Prime
alum
Pierre Beaurang
,
Nitrase Therapeutics
— the crew previously named
Nitrome Biosciences
—
has selected
Arun Kashyap
as SVP of oncology. Kashyap takes on this new role after two years as
Arch Oncology
’s VP of research, and he had a brief tenure with
Dren Bio
as senior director, protein science.
Catherine Mathis
→ Once named
Horama
and
fueled by a Series B extension
from July 2021, French biotech
Coave Therapeutics
has picked up
Catherine Mathis
as VP, regulatory affairs and
Julien Berger
as head of legal affairs. Mathis is a 20-year
Transgene
vet who comes to Coave from
Enterome
, where she was chief development officer, while Berger had a 16-year career with Genzyme/Sanofi Genzyme until he joined
Galapagos
in 2020 as senior legal counsel director.
→
Immunomic Therapeutics
has brought on
Frances
Harrison
as SVP, regulatory affairs. Harrison is taking over the reins from
Louise
Peltier
, who retired. Harrison makes her way to the Maryland-based company from
BTG International
(now
Boston
Scientific
), where she served as SVP, global regulatory affairs and compliance. Her other stints include roles at
Life Cell Corporation
(
Allergan
),
Covidien
(
Medtronic
) and
Lumenis
, among others.
→ Medical AI company
Owkin
has brought on
Jean-Philippe Vert
as chief research and development officer. Vert formerly served as a professor at Mines Paris PSL University and a research scientist at
Google
Brain
.
Ian Read
→ Ex-Pfizer chief
Ian Read
has turned up
as chairman of the board at
Areteia Therapeutics
. In July, the asthma biotech
made a $350 million debut
with contributions from Bain,
GV
, ARCH, Sanofi and the VC where Read is a partner,
Clive Meanwell
’s
Population Health Partners
.
→
Efgartigimod
developer
argenx
has made room for
Camilla Sylvest
on the board of directors. Sylvest has been with
Novo Nordisk
for 26 years and is the Danish pharma’s EVP, commercial strategy & corporate affairs.
Neha Krishnamohan
→ Riding high with its
FDA-approved plaque psoriasis drug
Zoryve
and
its buyout
of
Ducentis BioTherapeutics
,
Arcutis
has elected
Neha Krishnamohan
to the board of directors. After 13 years with
Goldman Sachs
, Krishnamohan became
Kinnate Biopharma
’s CFO and EVP of corporate development in June 2021.
→
Oncolytics Biotech
has lassoed in
Jonathan Rigby
to its board of directors. Currently, Rigby serves as group CEO of
Revelo Biotherapeutics
and also sits on the boards of Revelo,
ImmunoMolecular Therapeutics
and
BIOS
(chairman). Rigby’s career also spans roles at
SteadyMed
(CEO),
Zogenix
(co-founder), Merck, Bristol Myers and
Profile Therapeutics
(now
Phillips
Medical
).
Nicole Paulk
→
Nicole Paulk
has joined
the scientific advisory board at
GRO Biosciences
, which is chaired by co-founder
George Church
. Paulk, an assistant professor of AAV gene therapy at UCSF, is also on the SABs of
Excision BioTherapeutics
and
Dyno Therapeutics
.
→
Societal CDMO
, formerly known as
Recro
before its rebrand
in March,
has pulled up a chair
for
Elena Cant
on its board of directors. Cant currently serves as COO at
TwinStrand Biosciences
and formerly served in roles at Takeda,
Hospira
,
Mead Johnson Nutrition
, and
McKinsey & Company
.
→
Leap Therapeutics
is adding a new face
to its board of directors with the appointment of
Richard
Schilsky
. Schilsky is the former CMO and EVP of ASCO and served as its president from 2008-2009. Additionally, Schilsky served in chair roles for the NCI and the FDA’s ODAC.