Welcome to this week's Chutes and Ladders, our roundup of hirings, firings and retirings throughout the industry. Please send the good word—or the bad—from your shop to Eric Sagonowsky (email) or Angus Liu (email) and we will feature it here at the end of each week.
Alexion poaches Biogen’s longtime CFO Clancy
Alexion
Paul Clancy became CFO.
Roughly speaking, Biogen is losing one exec every two weeks recently. As for Alexion, Ludwig Hantson just took the helm from interim CEO David Brennan late March, and shortly after that, short-term CFO Dave Anderson, together with R&D chief Martin Mackay, commercial chief Carsten Thiel and HR head Clare Carmichael packed up and left in May. Hantson quickly filled the vacancies with the appointments of Brian Goff, John Orloff and Anne-Marie Law as CCO, R&D chief and chief human resources officer, respectively. He went after the hemorrhaging Biogen for the CFO post. Paul Clancy, who joined Biogen in 2001 and was named CFO in 2007, became the guy. A Leerink analyst said Clancy “has a reputation as a careful steward of capital, a doughty protector of margins.” FiercePharma
Sanofi Genzyme exec Kress jumps ship to Biogen
Biogen
Jean-Paul Kress, M.D., became EVP and head of global therapeutic operations.
It was lose-one-get-one for Biogen this week. While its CFO now became Alexion’s, Biogen poached Sanofi Genzyme’s SVP and Head of North America Jean-Paul Kress, M.D., as its EVP and head of global therapeutic operations. Kress, reporting directly to CEO Michel Vounatsos, will be responsible for Biogen’s worldwide commercial operations outside the U.S. and will also oversee the rare and specialty disease asset teams. He went to Sanofi Genzyme in 2015 from a four-year stint as CEO of Sanofi Pastuer MSD, a 50-50 joint venture by Sanofi Pasteur and MSD until they decided in March 2016 to end the project and pursue vaccines businesses independently. Kress’ previous experience also includes leadership roles with Eli Lilly, Abbott Laboratories and Gilead Sciences. Release
Life sciences VC Flagship Pioneering brings on J.P. Morgan vet Berenson
Flagship Pioneering
Stephen Berenson joined as an executive partner.
Life sciences venture capital firm Flagship Pioneering has already attracted several industry moguls, including ex-Novartis head David Epstein, who just joined about half a year ago; Merck’s former CMO Michael Rosenblatt, who joined last year as CMO; and Bain and Boston Scientific alum Jim Gilbert. Now, Stephen Berenson, a 33-year J.P. Morgan veteran, became the latest addition. The new executive partner has great confidence in the biotech industry, comparing its impact on this century to what information technology was to last century. Agios, Editas and Moderna are among the companies Flagship is currently fostering. Berenson will join the boards of some of Flagship’s portfolio companies, while building external partnerships for the VC. FierceBiotech
> Struggling Regulus promoted Mark Deeg, M.D., Ph.D., to CMO, just two months after he was named VP of translational medicine. FierceBiotech
> Adherium, which focuses on digital health technologies named Arik Anderson as Group CEO to replace founder Garth Sutherland. Release
> Life sciences cloud-based software provider Veeva Systems made five new appointments: Raymond Letulle, Ami Dudzinski Mehr, Hugo Cervantes and Jason Rizzo were named SVP, VP of services, VP and senior director of sales with Veeva Vault EDC, respectively; and Henry Galio was appointed senior director of Veeva Vault CTMS. Release
> Cambridge Biomedical, a provider of customized assays for small and large molecules, biomarkers and diagnostics, announced the appointment of Linda Robbie, Ph.D., as VP of scientific affairs. Release
> Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Aileron Therapeutics, which develops stapled peptides for cancers and other diseases, hired Donald Dougherty as SVP and CFO. Release