It was a 17-year journey for Derek Chalmers. Cara Therapeutics secured its first nod from the FDA in August after multiple snags since launching in 2004. Now, the three-month celebratory window ends next Tuesday for the CEO as he hands the keys to Leo Pharma's U.S. CEO and president.
Christopher Posner, who already sits on Cara's board and has served as chief of Leo with stints at Pfizer, BMS and Merck, will take the top spot on Nov. 9, the Stamford, Connecticut company said Wednesday, and forms a typical biotech pattern, enacting a changing of the guard after graduating from a clinical to a commercial company.
Posner likely won't jubilantly sing "Cooler Than Me," the 2010 pop song from the more famous Posner, of the Mike variety, but the new CEO will be singing to the tune of Korsuva commercialization.
The drug is slated for market entry in the first quarter of 2022 as a thrice-weekly injection for patients with chronic kidney disease who are on hemodialysis and experience the relentless itch of pruritus.
The August approval was a long-time coming after the oral formulation of the drug, dubbed difelikefalin, missed the main goal in a phase 2 trial in atopic dermatitis in April. The drug hit a previous snag in 2019 when another mid-stage trial missed secondary endpoints in moderate-to-severe pruritus.
Difelikefalin, a kappa opioid receptor, is the only drug in Cara's pipeline and is being studied in multiple mid-stage trials.
Cara will continue development of the oral form of Korsuva for atopic dermatitis and other conditions, Posner said in a statement.
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As part of the leadership shuffle, Chalmers will move into a senior advisor role. Posner joins from the U.S. unit of skin drug specialist Leo, where he oversaw medical dermatology treatments in atopic dermatitis, psoriasis and rosacea as president and CEO for over four years. He's also been involved in the product launches of treatments like Pfizer's arthritis and ulcerative colitis drug Xeljanx.