Welcome to this week's Chutes & Ladders, our roundup of hirings, firings and retirings throughout the industry. Please send the good word—or the bad—from your shop to Fraiser Kansteiner, and we will feature it here at the end of each week.
Ex-Gossamer CSO Salter-Cid reunites with Bristol Myers brethren Biondi at Flagship Pioneering
Flagship Pioneering
Luisa Salter-Cid, Ph.D., joins as chief scientific officer of the company's Pioneering Medicines division.
A month after she parted ways with Gossamer Bio, Salter-Cid has landed at Flagship Pioneering as chief scientist of its new Pioneering Medicines division. She's in good company at Flagship, where she joins fellow Bristol Myers Squibb veteran Paul Biondi—an executive partner at the firm and president of the unit where Salter-Cid will serve as CSO. Salter-Cid will oversee the development of new medicines that leverage technologies from Flagship's portfolio companies. Meanwhile, with Biondi at the helm, Pioneering Medicines will seek more partnerships with biopharma companies with the “aim of extending the partners’ access to multiple novel scientific platforms unique to the Flagship ecosystem of companies.” Salter-Cid signed on with Gossamer in 2018, coming off a 13-year stint at Bristol Myers, where she eventually moved up the ranks to vice president and head of immunology, small-molecule immuno-oncology and genomics discovery. As CSO of Gossamer, she oversaw the company’s pipeline of programs targeting a range of disease areas including immunology, autoimmune disease, gastrointestinal disorders and immuno-oncology. Salter-Cid left the company in April after Gossamer's DP2 inhibitor, GB001, flunked phase 2 trials in asthma and chronic rhinosinusitis. Fierce Biotech
AbbVie oncology exec Graef jumps ship for natural killer cell biotech Acepodia
Acepodia
Thorsten Graef, M.D., Ph.D., comes on board as chief medical officer.
AbbVie veteran Graef is taking up the CMO baton at Acepodia to help propel the company's pipeline of natural killer cell therapies through the clinic. The company's cell therapy ACE1702 is now engaged in a phase 1 trial for HER2-expressing solid tumors, while the rest of Acepodia's assets are preclinical. The company raised $47 million in March to take that prospect through the clinic—and to advance other pipeline assets—and has been bolstering its executive suite in recent weeks. Graef's star started to rise at AbbVie following the company's 2015 acquisition of Pharmacyclics, which added the blockbuster cancer drug Imbruvica to its arsenal. In his most recent role there, Graef held the post of VP of oncology early development, where he oversaw clinical development and regulatory preparations for more than 20 pipeline assets. Meanwhile, Acepodia has been on a hiring kick: The company has also named Michael Brock as its new chief strategy officer and enlisted Jimmy Lai as chief financial officer in March. Fierce Biotech
Centessa's new chief medical officer has AstraZeneca's Tagrisso, Lynparza on his resume
Centessa Therapeutics
Antoine Yver, M.D., lands at the company as CMO.
Yver joins Centessa as chief medical officer amid the company's quest to overhaul drug development using an asset-centric R&D model. He most recently worked at Daiichi Sankyo as executive vice president and global head, R&D oncology, and also served as chair of the firm's cancer enterprise. Prior to that, Yver was AstraZeneca’s senior vice president, global medicine head, oncology, and global medicines development China lead. He also had stints at Merck, Johnson & Johnson and Aventis Pharmaceuticals, which is now a part of Sanofi. At AZ, Yver had a hand in many of the company's best-known cancer meds, including Lynparza, Enhertu and Tagrisso. Yver's appointment marks the latest executive shuffle for fledgling biopharma Centessa, which debuted earlier this year with Moncef Slaoui, M.D., as chief scientific officer. The Operation Warp Speed alum wasn't long for the company. Slaoui stepped down in March amid allegations of sexual assault at his former employer, GlaxoSmithKline. Fierce Biotech
> Attralus Therapeutics, working on new treatments for systemic amyloidosis, has summoned former Purdue helmsman Mark Timney as CEO. It was more than three years ago that Timney left Purdue, the maker of OxyContin. The company faces numerous lawsuits linked to its role in the U.S. opioid epidemic, with Timney himself named in dozens of those suits. In 2018, he joined The Medicines Company, which brought its RNA-silencing cholesterol medicine, inclisiran, through phase 3 in 2019, right before Novartis bought the firm for $9.7 billion. Fierce Biotech
> Drug licenser LianBio has tapped Yizhe Wang, Ph.D., to take the reins as CEO. In his most recent role at Eli Lilly, Wang led the team that helped monoclonal antibody bamlanivimab score its emergency nod in COVID-19. He's filling the seat left by LianBio’s founding helmsman Bing Li, who hit the exit earlier this year. Wang led global brand development at Lilly’s oncology unit and, in 2020, also served as the global platform lead for anti-COVID therapy. Fierce Biotech
> Dermavant, working on innovative therapeutics in immuno-dermatology, has enlisted Michael Swartzburg as chief financial officer. Before signing on with the Roivant subsidiary, Swartzburg was vice president of finance and in principal financial and accounting officer roles at Iovance Biotherapeutics. Prior to that, he served as VP of finance, controller and principal accounting officer at Adverum Biotechnologies, and he also provided CFO and board advisory services at various life sciences companies. Release
> Crocos Go Digital has assembled a scientific committee of medicine, AI and health data experts to forward its aim to "democratize access to identification and remediation of cognitive disorders [in children ages six to 15] and facilitate communication between parents, teachers, and medical staff." The team is comprised of business intelligence expert Marie-Estelle Carrasco; psychiatrist Hervé Caci; Thierry Chaminade, a researcher at CNRS, at the Institute of Neurosciences of Timone, Aix Marseille University; University of Aix-Marseille Professor Olivier Oullier; and Pascal Staccini, a professor of public health who specializes in health informatics at the faculty of medicine of the Université Côte d'Azur.
> Drug discovery and development firm Bantam Pharmaceutical is passing the CEO torch to Michael Stocum, MS, who will also take on the role of president. Stocum will succeed founding helmsman Mike Luther, Ph.D., MBA, who plans to stick around as an adviser to Bantam's executive management and board. Stocum joined the team in late 2019 as chief business officer. Release
> Swedish Parkinson's disease specialist Intrance Medical Systems has set up shop in the U.S. and named Patrick Shea CEO of its stateside operations. Shea will be in charge of building the company's operational and business structure, and he'll also kick off the U.S. clinical development program for its fixed-dose combination treatment in advanced Parkinson's disease patients. The drug, which combines levodopa, carbidopa and entacapone for enteral infusion, is marketed as Lecigon in the Nordic countries and certain European markets. Shea signs on from Antares Pharmaceuticals, where he was senior vice president of commercial. He's also been tapped to join Intrance's board of directors. Release
> Doximity is advancing Anna Bryson to the role of chief financial officer, in which she'll oversee the company's financial strategy and operations. Bryson previously served as the company's VP of strategic finance and financial planning and analysis. Before joining the Doximity team, Bryson founded and served as CEO at investment advisory firm ACB Capital. She joins shortly after Doximity added former Veeva Systems CFO Tim Cabral to its board of directors. Cabral also signed on as chair of the company's audit committee. Release
> Verge Genomics is bolstering its scientific advisory board with the addition of Green Valley Pharmaceuticals CEO Mario Saltarelli, M.D., Ph.D. A neurologist, drug developer and entrepreneur with more than 30 years' biopharma leadership experience, Saltarelli will deploy his neurological and rare autoimmune disease expertise as Verge advances its pipeline of neurological disease candidates. Aside from Green Valley, Saltarelli has held executive roles at Neuron23, Entrada, Syntimmune and Annexon. Throughout his career, he's also established and-or led neuroscience development units at Pfizer, Abbott, Shire and Vertex. Release
> Gene therapy player Capsida has opened up the role of chief medical officer and selected Swati Tole, M.D., to be its first. Tole comes on board with extensive drug development know-how in disease areas like rheumatology, gastroenterology, hepatology and infectious diseases, Capsida said in a release. She signs on from Genentech, where she moved up the ranks over a 13-year spell, most recently serving as vice president of clinical development. In that role, she oversaw teams working on several molecules across gastroenterology and hepatology. Release
> Pharvaris, developing novel oral bradykinin-B2-receptor antagonists to treat hereditary angioedema (HAE), has tapped Wim Souverijns, Ph.D., to fill the newly created role of chief community engagement and commercial officer. He'll take up his post on July 1. Souverijns will help pave the way for Pharvaris' future commercialization by working with the HAE community as well as building out the company's sales and marketing and sales access functions, Pharvaris said in a release. He previously held roles at Amgen, Celgene and, most recently, ObsEva, where he was chief commercial officer. Release
> Genomic diagnostics company Veracyte has tapped current Helix CEO Marc Stapley to succeed its chief executive and co-founder, Bonnie Anderson. Anderson will assume the role of executive chair and act as an adviser to Stapley for "the next few years." Stapley, meanwhile, will join the company's board after its annual meeting of stockholders on June 7. He took the reins at Helix back in 2019. Under his leadership, the population genomics company has built one of the largest COVID-19 testing labs in the U.S., Veracyte said in a release. Release
> TellBio, armed with $5 million in series A funding, has tapped Pritesh Gandhi, PharmD, to lead the company as CEO. It's also welcomed Annie Partisano, PharmD, MS, onboard as senior vice president and head of operations. TellBio is on a mission to overhaul cancer detection and treatment with its circulating tumor cell (CTC) technology, TellDx, and complementary therapeutics platform, TellRx. Gandhi joins from Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, where he was general manager. Partisano most recently worked at Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals as VP, medical operations. Before that, she held various medical affairs leadership posts at at Boehringer Ingelheim, Sanofi Genzyme and Alnylam. Release
> SCYNEXIS, developing new medicines against tough-to-treat and drug-resistant infections, welcomed Christine Coyne to the team as chief commercial officer on May 10. Coyne will be key to the anticipated U.S. launch of Brexafemme, the expected trade name for ibrexafungerp, an oral antifungal product candidate to treat vaginal yeast infection, SCYNEXIS said in a release. The FDA is due to make a decision on Brexafemme on June 1. Coyne comes most recently from Paratek Pharmaceuticals, where she was SVP, commercial. Release
> MapLight Therapeutics has named Erin Pennock Foff, M.D., Ph.D., its chief medical officer. A trained neurologist with extensive molecular biology and genetics know-how, Foff was previously the executive director of clinical development at Acadia Pharmaceuticals. There, she led the company's neurodegenerative programs, most recently as asset development lead for several compounds. Release
> Xalud Therapeutics has bolstered its management team by five: Howard Rutman, M.D., MBA, joins as chief development officer; Brendan O’Leary, CFA, as chief operating officer; Kristin Murray as chief regulatory officer; Steve Vicik, Ph.D., as chief technology officer; and Kristen Albright as commercial development lead. Amid an "inflection point" for the company, CEO Diem Nguyen, Ph.D., says he has called together a "world-class team of leading executives and scientists" to advance its non-viral gene therapy candidate, XT-150, in chronic inflammatory diseases. Release
> Replimune, developing oncolytic immuno-gene therapies derived from its Immulytic platform, summoned Tanya Lewis to fill the newly minted role of chief development operations officer starting May 10. She resigned as a member of Replimune's board of directors on May 7 to facilitate the executive move. She comes over from Karyopharm Therapeutics, where she was executive vice president, chief regulatory strategy and strategic operations officer. There, Lewis oversaw project management and portfolio review and helped navigate the approval of the company's multiple myeloma med Xpovio. Release
> Durham, North Carolina-based Heat Biologics has enlisted Anthony Manning, Ph.D., as chief scientific adviser. At Heat, Manning will be in charge of strategic initiatives to accelerate the development of the company's product portfolio. Armed with more than three decades' of immunology and autoimmune disease R&D experience, Manning most recently served as chief scientific officer and head of research at Momenta Pharmaceuticals, which develops biologics to treat rare immune-mediated diseases. Release
> T-cell immunotherapy specialist Atara Biotherapeutics has tapped cell therapy and oncology expert Cokey Nguyen, Ph.D., as chief scientific officer. He joins the fold from Fate Therapeutics, where, as vice president, innovation, research and development, he led strategy for discovery and innovation efforts and took the lead on a corporate collaboration program with ONO Pharma. Before that, he was head of the targeted immunotherapy group on the oncology R&D team at Pfizer. Release
> SpringWorks Therapeutics has called upon Mike Burgess, M.B.Ch.B., Ph.D., as its new head of research and development. A physician-scientist with clinical experience in pediatrics and pediatric oncology, Burgess picks up the torch from Stephen Squinto, Ph.D., who has served as acting head of R&D since SpringWorks' 2017 debut. Squinto is sticking around as a member of the company's board. Burgess, for his part, comes over from Turnstone Biologics, where he was president of R&D. Release
> Clinical-stage cell therapy player MANA Therapeutics has unveiled the new role of chief scientific officer and tapped its senior vice president and head of research Arthur (Andy) Hurwitz, Ph.D., to fill it. At the same time, the company named Michael Kuo senior vice president of technical operations. “During his time at MANA Andy has been instrumental in building out our EDIFY platform, which educates T-cells to target multiple tumor associated antigens without the need for genetic modification,” company helmsman Martin Silverstein, M.D., said in a release. Meanwhile, Kuo moves into his new role from vice president of quality and supply chain at MANA. Release
> Relay Therapeutics welcomed Patrick Riley, Ph.D., to the race as senior vice president of artificial intelligence. An AI and machine learning expert, Riley will leverage his 15 years' experience at Google to lead a computational team at Relay. At the tech giant, Riley initially worked in web search and user behavior analysis, and later as a principal engineer and senior researcher on the Google Accelerated Science team. Release