Upon taking the helm at precision oncology-focused
Scorpion Therapeutics
last summer,
Axel Hoo
s
told
Endpoints News
that he
had a clear vision
of the type of leaders he wanted to hire.
It appears that former
Sanofi
project head
Michael Streit
, one of Hoos’ old colleagues from
GSK
, fits the bill.
Streit
has been tapped
to lead Scorpion’s first two experimental drugs into the clinic, the company announced on Monday. When Hoos approached him about the open CMO position, Streit said he was “keen about the opportunity” to work together again.
“It was the unique combination of a focused strategy and the right people to execute this strategy that attracted me to Scorpion,” he said in an email to
Endpoints News.
He was most recently at Sanofi, where he served as VP and senior global project head on
SAR444245
, the company’s PEGylated, not-alpha interleukin-2 candidate.
His resume also includes stops at GSK, where he rose to VP of development, and
Janssen
, where he led early development for the company’s prostate cancer and hematology programs.
When it comes to Scorpion, Streit’s first priority is steering
STX-478
and
STX-721
into the clinic. The former is designed to inhibit mutant forms of phosphoinositide 3-kinase alpha (PI3Kα), one of the most common drivers across solid tumors, Streit said, while the latter targets the Exon 20 insertion mutation in epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in patients with non-small cell lung cancer. IND filings are expected next year, according to Hoos, though Scorpion has more than 15 other less-advanced programs.
“Critical for me as a CEO is that you’re decisive, you’re a good listener so you get all the information you need to make decisions and then you carry that forward with conviction,” Hoos told Endpoints last July. “Conviction is a big thing, especially in biotech. You cannot be successful if you don’t believe in what you’re doing.” —
Nicole DeFeudis
→ The PDUFA date is upon us for
eli-cel
, and with its gene therapy
Zynteglo
now approved by the FDA and
steeply priced
,
bluebird bio
is looking for its third CFO this year, as chief strategy and financial officer
Jason Cole
walks out the door
Oct. 14 “to pursue new career opportunities.” Cole originally rolled into bluebird eight and a half years ago as general counsel, then became chief legal officer, chief operating & legal officer and chief business officer. He replaced
Gina Consylman
as finance chief in March when she bolted for
Vedere Bio II
after eight months, and the job is open again in short order as
Danforth Advisors
exec
Katherine Breedis
pinch-hits on an interim basis. This marks the latest departure from bluebird after chief regulatory officer
Anne-Virginie Eggimann
left for the same post
at
Flagship
’s
Tessera Therapeutics
in August.
→ It may be too early to listen to “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” or “Waltz of the Flowers,” but RNA drug developer
Nutcracker Therapeutics
is ready to bring in
Rob Schott
as CMO. Previously the head of therapeutics at
Sangamo
, Schott is an
Eli Lilly
alum who was medical chief at the Indianapolis pharma’s subsidiary
Chorus
.
ARCH
-backed Nutcracker pulled in a substantial chunk of change in March
with a $167 million Series C
, and the California biotech fleshed out its leadership this summer with COO
John Stubenrauch
, CBO
Geoff Nosrat
i and general counsel
Ian Wiener
.
→
Pearl Huang
’s protein degradation upstart
Dunad Therapeutics
has pegged
Ruben Tommasi
as chief R&D officer. Tommasi logged 17 years at
Novartis
and left
NIBR
to become head of infectious disease chemistry at
AstraZeneca
in 2011. Since 2015, he had been CSO of AstraZeneca spinout
Entasis Therapeutics
, the
$113 million antibody developer that was sold to
Innoviva
in May. Flagship stitched together
Inzen
and Huang’s old company
Cygnal
to form
Sonata Therapeutics
that same month, and then Huang
took the helm
at Cambridge, UK-based Dunad in late June.
→
Cellics Therapeutics
, a San Diego biotech that got the go-ahead on an IND application for its red blood cell nanosponge
CTI-005
,
has tapped
Bristol Myers Squibb
veteran
Paul Daruwala
as president and CEO. Daruwala split his eight years at
Cidara Therapeutics
between serving as chief commercial officer (2014-18) and COO (since 2018), and at Bristol Myers he was VP of US marketing for the hepatology franchise. Earlier, he spent 18 years at
Merck
and then pivoted to
Vertex
in 2010 as VP, commercial & strategic management.
→ On Sept. 19,
Pfizer
and Novartis vet
Gail Farfel
will take over
for
Gene Williams
as CEO of Toronto-headquartered
ProMIS Neurosciences
, which is going after such diseases as Alzheimer’s, ALS and multiple system atrophy. Farfel just had a seven-year run as chief development officer of
Zogenix
and is a board member at
Avrobio
and
Durect Corporation
.
→
Nallakkan Arvindan
has signed on
as chief technology officer of
Spotlight Therapeutics
, a San Francisco CRISPR gene editing shop that
chalked up a $36.5 million Series B
in March and
added
Enhertu
whisperer
Antoine Yver
as a board member in July. In his long career at
Five Prime
before the $2 billion
Amgen
buyout of March 2021
, Arvindan was VP, strategic technology operations and would get promoted to SVP in 2018.
→ Beset by a flailing stock price
$TXMD
and an
M&A move that was called off
in July by potential buyer
EW Healthcare Partners
, former Novartis exec
Hugh O’Dowd
’s tenure at Boca Raton, FL women’s health biotech
TherapeuticsMD
hasn’t panned out, so co-founder
Brian Bernick
and ex-
Esperion
chief commercial officer
Mark Glickman
have thus been named
interim co-CEOs. Bernick had filled the role of chief scientific and medical officer, while Glickman had been CBO since June 2021 at TherapeuticsMD, chaired by former HHS Secretary
Tommy Thompson
.
→
BioCryst
has handed out two promotions
as enrollment picks up again on clinical trials for
BCX9930
, its lead drug
that had received a partial hold
from the FDA in May.
Bill Sheridan
has been elevated to chief development officer, and
Ryan Arnold
has succeeded Sheridan as CMO of the rare disease biotech. In 2008, Sheridan moved on to BioCryst from Amgen, where he capped off his 14 years with the pharma giant as VP, North American medical affairs. Arnold was brought on board six months ago as SVP of global medical affairs, a position that the Sanofi/
Genzyme
alum also held at
Sage Therapeutics
and
Annexon Biosciences
.
→ While looking to broaden the horizons for its FDA-approved pruritus drug
Korsuva
with an oral formulation
in Phase II,
Cara Therapeutics
has enlisted
Ryan Maynard
as chief commercial officer. Maynard, the CFO for 10 of his 16 years with
Rigel Pharmaceuticals
, would later hold the same title at
Blade Therapeutics
and healthcare solutions outfit
LetsGetChecked
. He’s also on the board of directors at
Iovance
alongside such members as chairman
Iain Dukes
and
Athena Countouriotis
,
the new chairperson
at
Recludix Pharma
who ran
Turning Point
until Bristol Myers
snapped it up for $4.1 billion
last year.
→ While we’re thinking of it, Turning Point’s former interim CSO
Gavin Hirst
has a new gig
as chief scientist at
Atomwise
, part of Sanofi’s AI full-court press
that also includes
Exscientia
. Before the
Takeda
vet was with Turning Point, Hirst was Janssen’s senior director and head of immmunology medicinal chemistry. In a deal centered on small molecules, Sanofi
paid Atomwise $20 million upfront
in August with milestones in the neighborhood of $1 billion.
→ There’s movement on the Maraganore Meter again as ex-
Alnylam
chief
John Maraganore
tacks on another strategic advisory role
with
Xilio Therapeutics
. The I/O biotech has bolstered its board of directors with
Tom Heyman
, who retired in 2019 after 37 years at
J&J
, and has plugged in
Myles Clouston
as VP of investor relations. Clouston worked at Nasdaq for more than eight years and had led US investor relations at
MorphoSys
.
→
Science 37
pulled off a $235 million SPAC deal
last year, then
trimmed its workforce
by “just under 25” people this summer as the bear market put many other companies in a similar bind. The decentralized clinical trials provider out of the Research Triangle in North Carolina
has since recruited
Quintiles
vet
Michael Shipton
as chief commercial officer. Shipton took on the role of SVP, customer solutions & strategy to conclude his four years with
Syneos Health
.
→ It hasn’t been all peaches and cream between the FDA and
Agenus
with its BLA for
balstilimab
getting pulled
last year, and the biotech
hopes to get back on track with
Patricia Carlos
as chief regulatory, quality, and safety officer. Carlos jumps to Agenus from
Arcus
, where she was SVP of regulatory and quality. Agenus has also welcomed
Todd Yancey
as senior global clinical development, medical affairs and commercial advisor after his time as
BeiGene
’s SVP, global medical affairs and new market development. Carlos also has BeiGene ties from her days as director (and then senior director) of regulatory affairs.
→ Since its
$111 million Series B
in January, CAR-T developer
ImmPACT Bio
has methodically formed its leadership team with a new chief technology officer, COO, CFO
and the arrival
of
Jonathan Benjamin
this week as CMO. The ex-medical director at Amgen was SVP for clinical research with
Atreca
, which had to give itself some breathing room by
scaling back the workforce
in June.
→ Pummeled by a drastic
75% staff reduction
and
a CRL with its cUTI drug
tebipenem HBr
,
Spero Therapeutics
has selected
Kamal Hamed
as CMO. Hamed, a former medical director with
Bayer
, Bristol Myers and Novartis, just had a six-month run as the medical chief at
Lysovant
; he’s also led clinical development and medical affairs for
Basilea Pharmaceutica
.
→ Effective Oct. 3,
Ronald Herbst
will get started
as CSO at
Biolojic Design
, the AI-based antibody shop
that started
Aulos Bioscience
with
ATP
’s
Michael Ehlers
in January 2021. A former
MedImmune
R&D exec, Herbst was chief scientist at
Pyxis Oncology
, which
pulled the plug on
PYX-202
and paused development on
PYX-203
and
PYX-102
in an August pipeline shakeup.
→ Going after IL-15 with
SOT101
and inking a
Keytruda
combo deal with Merck after
raising more than $300 million
in December 2021, Czech cancer player
Sotio Biotech
has appointed
Robyn Hunter
as CFO
and
Martin Steegmaier
as CSO
. Hunter had been with
Fortress Biotech
since its
Coronado Biosciences
days, first as VP & corporate controller and later as CFO, and she’s on the board of directors at
Tenax Therapeutics
. Steegmaier, the former head of discovery for large molecule research at
Roche,
wraps up his two years as head of research at MorphoSys.
→ Swiss I/O biotech
Nouscom
has promoted
Novartis cancer vet
Sven Gogov
to CMO and picked up
Maria Arce-Tomas
as VP, head of regulatory affairs. Gogov joined the Janssen partner as VP, clinical development last October after his stint as
Incyte
’s executive director, global immuno-oncology. Arce-Tomas has held regulatory positions at GSK,
Abbott
, Takeda and
Novo Nordisk
, and since 2019 she had been global head of regulatory affairs with
PharmaMar
.
→ Radiopharmaceuticals are a hot commodity, and
Jacob Hesterman
is entering that world
with
Ratio Therapeutics
as chief data officer. Hesterman was chief technology officer at
Realm IDx
and
Invicro
before this newly-created post at Ratio, a Bayer and
Lantheus
partner that launched from stealth in June with a $20+ million seed round and will be located in the Seaport District in Boston.
→
Julie Daves
has made her way
to Minneapolis-based
DiaMedica Therapeutics
has SVP, clinical development operations. Daves had been global head of clinical operations for
Sanifit
, a Spanish biotech
that was bought by
Vifor Pharma
,
which was bought by
CSL
in a Matryoshka doll M&A scenario. The FDA
issued a clinical hold
on DiaMedica’s acute ischemic stroke and chronic kidney disease drug,
DM199
, in July.
→ Global CRO
Parexel
has a pair of promotions
on its leadership team with
Peyton Howell
being elevated to the newly-created role of chief operating and growth officer and
Amy McKee
moving up to CMO and global head, Oncology Center of Excellence. Howell joined the company in May 2018 as its chief commercial and strategy officer. Before making her way to Parexel, Howell was president for health systems and specialty care solutions at
AmerisourceBergen
. Meanwhile, McKee has been with Parexel since 2019, where she started as SVP and head of regulatory consulting services. McKee formerly held an 11-year stint at the FDA, culminating in her role as deputy center director, Oncology Center of Excellence (OCE) and supervisory associate director, OHOP, CDER.
→
Endpoint
Health
, not affiliated with
Endpoints News
,
has plucked up
Ransi Somaratne
as CMO. This isn’t Somaratne’s first time wearing the CMO hat, having served in the same role previously at
Spring
Discovery
. Somaratne also brings with him experience from his times at
BioMarin
and Amgen.
→ Not long after
Diamyd Medical
kicked off its Phase III trial of its drug in an HLA-defined genetic subpopulation of type 1 diabetes patients, the Swedish company has promoted
Christoph Nowak
to the position of CMO. Nowak joined the autoimmune diabetes biotech last March after a five-year stint as an assistant professor at the
Karolinska
Institutet
.
→
Phosplatin Therapeutics
changed its name to
Promontory Therapeutics
in May, but not its focus on developing small molecule cancer drugs. This week, the biotech
has welcomed
Helene Shea
as VP of CMC and
Kate Hogg Call
as VP of clinical operations. Shea was previously the head of CMC at
Saniona
and also held CMC posts at
AMAG Pharmaceuticals
and
Ariad Pharmaceuticals
, while Hogg Call had been the senior director of clinical operations at
Checkmate Pharmaceuticals
for nearly two years. Promontory is partnering with Pfizer and
Merck KGaA
on a combo therapy involving
Bavencio
and its lead asset,
PT-112
.
→
NervGen
has named
Matvey Lukashev
as its VP, research and preclinical development. Lukashev most recently served as VP, translational sciences at the
ALS Development Institute
. Prior to that, Lukashev held a variety of roles at
Biogen
.
→
Adri Osman
is joining
Azur Group
as VP of corporate quality and compliance. Osman comes from
Teva
Pharmaceuticals
, where he served as head of quality strategy and portfolio management.
→ Ex-Pfizer Oncology president
Garry Nicholson
has been named
chairman of the board at
Day One Biopharmaceuticals
, which
did the positive data-to-public offering two-step
in June. Nicholson chairs the board at
G1 Therapeutics
and had a 28-year run at Eli Lilly before joining Pfizer in 2008.
→ South San Francisco neuro biotech
Nine Square Therapeutics
has elected
Samumed
co-founder and ex-
Impact Biomedicines
chief
John Hood
to the board of directors. Hood’s new company,
Endeavor Biomedicines
,
raised $101 million in a Series B round
back in February.
→ Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) upstart
Haya Therapeutics
has locked in
Brian Thomas
as chairman of the board. Thomas holds the top spot at
Metagenomi
, a gene editing player that
inked a CRISPR deal
with
Moderna
last November.
→ Under the new leadership of CEO
Kim Blackwell
,
Zentalis Pharmaceuticals
has reserved space
for
Jan Skvarka
on the board of directors. The CEO of
Trillium
until
it was sold to Pfizer for $2.22 billion last year
, Skvarka chairs the boards of
GentiBio
and
Longwood
’s
DEM BioPharma
, the just-launched CD47 player
that scored a $70 million Series A
.
→ Regular CNN contributor
Leana Wen
, who has been under the microscope for her
about-face on Covid mandates
,
has joined
the board of directors at
UroGen
. The George Washington University professor is also a board member at
Glaukos
.
→ The number of board members at
1910 Genetics
has grown to four
with the selection of
Desney Tan
. The 18-year
Microsoft
vet and managing director of
Microsoft Health Futures
is joining CEO
Jen Nwankwo
, the NIBR’s
Jennifer Leeds
and
Playground Global
venture partner
Phyllis Whiteley
on the board.
→
Merit Cudkowicz
is taking her talents to South Beach
as a member of the scientific advisory board at Miami-based neuro biotech
Pasithea Therapeutics
. Cudkowicz, the chief of neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital, is a frequent resource for Endpoints’ ALS coverage.
→
Oxford Biotherapeutics
chairman
Bernd Seizinger
, the acting CEO of
CryptoMedix
,
is headed to
the board of directors at
Aptose
. In the 1990s, Seizinger was VP for oncology drug discovery and VP for corporate and academic alliances with Bristol Myers.
→
Pliant Therapeutics
, another biotech
that raised a truckload of cash
after positive data,
has appointed
Agilent Technologies
CMO and longtime GSK exec
Katharine Knobil
to the board of directors. She’s also been CMO and head of R&D at the now-defunct
Kaleido Biosciences
.
→ The folks at
hC Bioscience
just gained a CSO and chief data science officer last week, and now the tRNA player
has waved in
Brad Margus
to the board of directors. The ex-CEO of
Cerevance
and
Envoy Therapeutics
also has board seats at
Arvinas
,
Neurona Therapeutics
and the A-T Children’s Project.
→ Prostate cancer biotech
ESSA Pharma
has added
Philip Kantoff
to the board of directors. The former chairman of the Department of Medicine at Memorial Sloan Kettering, Kantoff co-founded and is CEO of another biotech that’s targeting prostate cancer,
Convergent Therapeutics
.
→ Tel Aviv-based
Ukko
has welcomed aboard
Tim Garnett
to its advisory board. Garnett is the former CMO of Eli Lilly, having served in the role from 2008 to 2021. Garnett also previously served as the chair of the R&D leadership forum for
PhRMA
.
→
Neogen
is pulling out two new seats
on its board of directors for
Jeff Capello
and
Aashima Gupta
— who come along after a merger agreement with
3M
. Capello — currently managing member at
Monomoy Advisors
— has had a busy career, serving as CFO at a number of places including
PerkinElmer
,
Boston Scientific
and Biogen. Meanwhile, Gupta has held a variety of roles, including stints at
JP Morgan Chase
,
Google
Cloud
,
Apigee
and
Kaiser
Permanente
.