→
Sam Samad
is out
as CFO of
Illumina
as chief strategy and corporate development officer
Joydeep Goswami
slides in for him on an interim basis starting July 8. Goswami joined
Francis deSouza
’s crew in 2019 as SVP of corporate development and strategic planning after his time as president of
Thermo Fisher
’s clinical next-generation sequencing (NGS) and oncology business unit.
Guardant Health
, a primary liquid biopsy screening test competitor,
filed a motion
to dismiss Illumina’s case against the company in late May. Its co-founders and co-CEOs,
Helmy Eltoukhy
and
AmirAli Talasaz
, are former staffers at Illumina, which is alleging that the pair infringed on intellectual property to develop Guardant’s technology.
“Illumina’s lawsuit frivolously challenges our ownership and authorship of our intellectual property, which is the backbone of our vital work,” Guardant Health general counsel
John Saia
said in a March statement.
→ Swiss gene therapy player
Anjarium Biosciences
jumped
into the gene therapy 2.0 fray with a Series A in September 2021 that featured contributions from
Abingworth
,
Gimv
and
Pfizer
’s venture arm, and this week
Stephen Yoo
has hitched a ride
as CEO. Yoo held clinical development posts at
MedImmune
/
AstraZeneca
before taking the CMO job at
Regenxbio
, and since 2019 he was CMO and at
Third Harmonic Bio
, a role presently
occupied
by
Edward Conner
.
→ Massachusetts solid tumor biotech
Xilio Therapeutics
has promoted
Martin Huber
to president of the company. Even with his new role, Huber will still maintain responsibilities as president of R&D. Huber joined Xilio after a stint as SVP and CMO of
Tesaro
(acquired by
GSK
). Earlier on in his career, Huber was SVP, oncology clinical research at
Merck
and held roles at
Schering-Plough
,
Roche
and
Rhone-Poulenc
Rorer
. Huber currently sits on the boards of
Mersana Therapeutics
and
Syndax
Pharmaceuticals
.
In addition to Huber’s promotion, Xilio is pulling out some seats on its board for former
Alexion
and
Biogen
CFO
Paul Clancy
as chair (succeeding
Dan
Lynch
, who is transitioning to strategic advisor of the company) and
Surface Oncology
CEO
Robert
Ross
.
→ With former
Rafael Holdings
boss
Ameet Mallik
running the show,
ADC Therapeutics
has installed
David Gilman
as chief business & strategy officer. Gilman spent his short snippet of time at
Novartis Oncology
as global head of portfolio strategy and business development, overlapping with Mallik’s run as head of US operations. Gilman eventually left
Novartis
in 2019 to become a partner at
ClearView Healthcare Partners
.
→
Replimune
phased out
Andrea Pirzkall
’s position in 2021 after a year on the job “without cause,” but she
has since resurfaced
at San Francisco-based
Asher Bio
as CMO. Before her stint at Replimune, Pirzkall was
BeiGene
’s executive director of clinical development and also spent a decade at
Genentech
. Asher Bio garnered the support of
Third Rock
and
RA Capital
with its $108 million
Series B
last September as it develops its lead candidate, a CD8-targeting IL-2.
→
Alex Zhavoronkov’s
global AI player
Insilico Medicine
— which days ago added a robotics lab to the company with a fresh injection of
$60 million
—
is bumping up
their CMO
Feng Ren
into the role of co-CEO. Ren will be in charge of the development side of things as the company begins testing more of their drugs in humans while Zhavoronkov will handle the AI portion of the company. Ren, a Harvard grad, joined the company last February after a stint in Shanghai. Earlier in his career, Ren spent 11 years with
GSK
R&D China, culminating in his role as head of chemistry.
→
Deciphera
sang the restructuring blues after a late-stage trial fail with
Qinlock
last fall,
sending
35% of its workforce packing in a move that CEO
Steve Hoerter
hopes will keep the lights on through 2024. As they press forward, Big Pharma vet
Kelley Dealhoy
has stepped in
as CBO. In a total of 10 years with Novartis, Dealhoy held such roles as VP of US business development for the pharmaceutical division, global head of business development and M&A for the consumer division, and more recently, VP of business development for the oncology division.
→
Colin McCracken
is moseying down
to synthetic bio company
Evonetix
to take over the reins as CEO. McCracken joins the Cambridge, UK-based company from
Fluidigm
, where he served as SVP and CCO. Prior to that stint, McCracken had gigs at Thermo Fisher (VP and general manager and VP of sales);
Life
Technologies
(VP and head of European sales); and
Qiagen
(national sales manager).
→
The heat is on
… and then it wasn’t, when
Heat Bio
rebranded
to
NightHawk Biosciences
in April. NightHawk
has tapped
Stephan Kutzer
as interim CEO of its CDMO subsidiary
Scorpion Biological Services
, which will be building a new biomanufacturing site in the Little Apple of Manhattan, KS. After 18 years at
Lonza
, 10 of those as president, divisional CEO and COO of the pharma biotech & customer manufacturing division, Kutzer held the top spot at
Alcami Corporation
, a company he also chaired.
→
Merck KGaA
is promoting
Larisa Amir
to the role of managing director of its healthcare R&D center in Israel. Amir joined Merck KGaA in 2009 and served in a number of roles before culminating in her last position as global head of products quality LCM. Amir is also a member of the Merck Global Healthcare Discovery Technology Leadership team. Prior to joining Merck, Amir was COO at
Procognia
.
→ On July 1,
Melissa Bradford-Klug
will debut
as COO of
Akari Therapeutics
, now helmed by former
Enzyvant
chief
Rachelle Jacques
. Bradford-Klug has worked in the rare disease space for Greater China as president and CBO of
RareStone Group
since January 2020; the former
Mallinckrodt
and
AMAG Pharmaceuticals
vet has CEO experience with
Keryx Biopharmaceuticals
and women’s health-focused
Mayfield Pharmaceuticals
.
→ Before
striking
a $25 million immuno-oncology deal with
Exelixis
, Sweden’s
BioInvent
named
Sylvie Ryckebusch
as CBO, diving into an executive position after assisting BioInvent part-time since 2019. In her 12 years at
Merck KGaA
/
EMD Serono
, Ryckebusch was head of neurology and autoimmune disease licensing, business development. BioInvent also added
Forbion
’s
Nanna Lüneborg
and
Redmile Group
’s
Natalie Berner
to the board of directors on Thursday, the same day the Exelixis deal was announced.
→ TCR upstart
Marengo Therapeutics
already added some gravitas to the team with FDA and
Sana
vet
Ke Liu
’s
appointment
as chief development officer, and it’s CFO
Svetlana Makhni
who takes
center stage a month later. Makhni, the ex-finance chief of
Bierman
and
Escient Pharmaceuticals
, cut her teeth at
Blackstone
,
Westbrook Partners
,
Goldman Sachs
and
BMO Capital Markets
. In November 2021,
Apple Tree Partners
poured
$80 million into creating Marengo, a biotech taking aim at Vβ TCR variants.
→
Domain Therapeutics
, the French-Canadian GPCR player
which bagged
a $42 million Series A back in May,
has promoted
Xavier Leroy
to CSO, who first joined the startup back in 2019 as chief technology officer. Leroy has also served as head of drug discovery at
iTeos Therapeutics
and owns GPCR experience from his 13 years at
Actelion
.
→ Helsinki-based
Valo Therapeutics
(not to be confused with
Flagship
’s
Valo Health
)
has picked up
Hemanshu Shah
as CBO. Shah has Big Pharma experience galore from 13 years at
Bristol Myers Squibb
and a year as
J&J
’s global commercial leader, oncology. From 2012-14, he was VP of global marketing and global therapeutic head for transplantation, immunology & infectious diseases with
Astellas
, and before accepting this role, Shah served as VP, corporate development at
Transgene
.
→ Hangzhou, China-based
Ascletis
— the first pre-revenue biotech
to list
on the HKEX in 2018 —
has rolled out
the welcome mat for
John Gargiulo
as CBO. A key cog in the US business operations of
Daiichi Sankyo
, Gargiulo concluded his 18 years with AstraZeneca’s
Enhertu
partner as North American president and CEO, and from there, he was a principal for
GPG Enterprises
.
→
Briggs Morrison
did a switcheroo with
Michael Metzger
at Syndax Pharmaceuticals in February, as Morrison
ceded
his CEO post to Metzger to take on the role of president and lead R&D. Against that backdrop, Syndax’s CFO vacancy
has been filled
by
Keith Goldan
, who leaves the same role at
Optinose
just as the biotech
gained
more traction with its nasal spray
Xhance
for patients with chronic sinusitis in a second Phase III trial.
→
Attempting
to separate itself in a burgeoning protein degradation field,
RA Capital
-backed
Avilar Therapeutics
has introduced
Adam Muzikant
to the squad as CBO. Muzikant was at the negotiating table as business chief of
Flexion Therapeutics
when the
Zilretta
maker
was sold
to
Pacira Biosciences
in October 2021. Before joining Flexion, Muzikant was a business development exec with AMAG Pharmaceuticals and
Synta Pharmaceuticals
.
→
Riverside Partners’
portfolio company
Syner-G BioPharma Group
is ushering in
Ron Kraus
as CEO, succeeding
Prabu Nambiar
. Kraus joins from
Cytel
, where he served as COO. Prior to that, Kraus spent two decades at
Parexel International
in a variety of roles including global head of
Parexel
Consulting
.
→ After
jumping on board
as CEO of
GlycoEra
last month,
Ganesh Kaundinya
has shored up
his leadership with a longtime colleague.
Tanmoy Ganguly
will take on CSO duties at the glycobiology and protein degradation biotech, pivoting from
Evelo Biosciences
, where he was a VP in charge of pharmacology, research analytics and bioinformatics. Ganguly spent a significant portion of his career at
Momenta
, which Kaundinya founded in 2001 and
was sold
to J&J in 2020 for $6.5 billion.
→
Heavy nova
: There’s a pair of promotions at Newtown, PA cancer biotech
Onconova
, as
Mark Guerin
(COO and CFO) and
Adar Makovski Silverstein
(senior director and head of corporate development)
climb the ladder
. Guerin tacks on another role after serving as CFO of Onconova since September 2013, with the company’s $78 million IPO predating his arrival by two months. We covered Silverstein’s appointment as director, corporate development last December after her nearly three years in business development, external R&D at
Amgen
.
→ Eye disease-focused
Clearside Biomedical
has recruited
Susan Coultas
as chief clinical officer. Coultas most recently served as SVP of clinical development at
Kala
Pharmaceuticals
. Before that, Coultas had gigs at
Alcon
Laboratories
,
CibaVision
Ophthalmics
,
Sucampo
Pharmaceuticals
,
Bausch + Lomb
and
InfoQuest Clinical
Network
.
→ Durham, NC-based
Aerami Therapeutics
has appointed
Lisa Yañez
as COO. Before joining the C-suite at Aerami, Yañez held executive positions at
Acceleron
(VP of global strategic marketing) and
United Therapeutics
(VP of marketing, analytics and training). Earlier, she was a product manager with GSK,
Allergan
and Genentech.
→ Cary, NC-based
Allucent
has tapped
Katy Moore
as president of clinical pharmacology, modeling and simulation. Moore joins with a wealth of experience, having served as global head of clinical pharmacology at
ViiV
Healthcare
; headed the viral diseases and oncology clinical pharmacology, modeling and simulation teams at GSK; and also led worldwide business development teams at GSK.
→
Philip Okala
has been named
system president at City of Hope, filling a crucial role at one of the nation’s leading cancer research centers in September. Okala will run clinical care and research sites under the City of Hope umbrella, such as City of Hope Los Angeles, City of Hope Orange County, Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope and Cancer Treatment Centers of America. Okala comes to City to Hope after five years as COO of the University of Pennsylvania Health System.
→
Dag Nesse
has been named
director of clinical operations at
EpiEndo Pharmaceuticals
out of Reykjavik, which
raised
a modest €20 million in its Series A last summer. Neese most recently served as senior director, head of clinical operations at
Calliditas Therapeutics
, and he has also served as head of operations at
Modus Therapeutics
.
→
Vanessa Salazar
has moved to
Boston gene therapy biotech
STRM.BIO
as VP of business development. Prior to joining STRM.BIO, she was executive director of corporate development and strategic partnerships at
Passage Bio
. Salazar, who started her career with a 16-year run at GSK, was also corporate development lead at
Spark Therapeutics
.
→ One day after
being slapped with
a Form 483 for multiple production issues, German CDMO
Rentschler Biopharma
is welcoming aboard
Kassim Kolia
as VP, business development. Kolia comes aboard boasting experience from
FinVector
& Oy
,
Eden Biodesign
/Allergan,
Lonza
and
Aptuit
(part of
Evotec
).
→ Bristol Myers
has expanded
its board of directors, appointing
Deepak Bhatt
to the board’s Science & Technology Committee. Formerly with the Cleveland Clinic and VA Boston Healthcare, Bhatt is the executive director of interventional cardiovascular programs at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
→ During this week’s convention in San Diego,
BIO
dipped into the communications realm
to appoint
Mike Huckman
to the board of directors. A three-time Emmy winner, Huckman spent 10 years as the pharmaceuticals reporter at CNBC and is now global practice leader for executive communications at
Real Chemistry
.
→
Verve Therapeutics
, which
just last month
became the third biotech — behind
Intellia
and
Editas Medicine
— to test its gene editing technology in humans,
has made way
for
Bo
Cumbo
on its board of directors. Cumbo, the ex-
Sarepta
chief commercial officer, currently serves as president and CEO of
AavantiBio
.
→ You may recall that
Wendy Dixon
retired from
Alkermes
’ board of directors in what the biotech
called
a“continued refreshment process,” but another opportunity
has opened up
for her on the board of directors at
Iovance
. Dixon, the former marketing exec at Bristol Myers and Merck, has seats on the boards of
Arvinas
and
Black Diamond
.
→
Visiox Pharma
is bringing aboard
Vicente Anido
as a strategic advisor. Anido
was ousted
as CEO at
Aerie Pharmaceuticals
in September 2021 and was also chief executive at
ISTA
Pharmaceuticals
.
→
June Bray
is taking a seat
on the board of directors of
Cortexyme,
joining at a turbulent time for the San Francisco-based biotech. Most recently, Bray was SVP, global regulatory affairs and medical writing at Allergan, and prior to that, Bray was with
Organon
and
Berlex Laboratories
. To say the company has had it rough would be an understatement: A failed attempt to bring forward an unorthodox approach to treating Alzheimer’s has led to a
complete remake
at the troubled biotech (transitioning its name to
Quince Therapeutics
) last month, with
Novosteo
CEO
Dirk Thye
and CMO
Karen Smith
coming aboard to help right the ship.
→ US-Dutch gamma delta T cell biotech
Lava Therapeutics
is bubbling up to the Peer Review surface
by electing
James Noble
and
Jay Backstrom
to the board of directors. Noble co-founded
Adaptimmune
in 2008 and was CEO until 2019, and Backstrom — the ex-CMO and head of regulatory affairs at
Celgene
—became a board member at
Disc Medicine
not too long ago after wrapping up his time leading R&D at Acceleron.
→
Kathy Dong
has been elected
to the board of directors at
Neuron23
,
Nancy Stagliano
’s neuro startup from the folks at
Westlake Village BioPartners
. A nine-year
Gilead
vet who held various marketing roles at the California drugmaker, Dong has been the COO of
Star Therapeutics
since 2019.
→ Swedish pharma company
NorthX Biologics
is adding some new faces
to its board of directors with the appointments of
Lotta Ljungqvist
,
Richard Bergström
,
Mathias
Uhlén
and
Lars
Backsell
. Here’s a quick summary of each new member:
Ljungqvist formerly served as president and CEO of
GE
for the Nordic region and is also the ex-CEO of
Cytiva’s
Testa Center for Bioprocess Innovation; Bergström was appointed Sweden’s vaccine coordinator during the Covid-19 epidemic and was previously director general of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations; meanwhile, Uhlén is a professor in microbiology at the Royal Institute of Technology and Backsell is a co-founder and former CEO of
Recipharm
.