Welcome to this week's Chutes & Ladders, our roundup of significant leadership hirings, firings and retirings across the industry. Please send the good word—or the bad—from your shop to Darren Incorvaia or Gabrielle Masson and it will be featured here at the end of each week.
Jade carves out exec team with Chinook vets
Jade Biosciences
Shiny new Jade Biosciences has selected its CEO in Tom Frohlich, who co-founded Chinook Therapeutics and served as chief operating officer until it was bought out by Novartis last year. Jade’s new chief medical officer Hetal Kocinsky, M.D., also comes from Chinook, as does the company’s newly appointed board chairman Eric Dobmeier, formally Chinook’s CEO. The rest of Jade’s newly appointed board is made up of industry leaders from companies that include Samsara BioCapital and Oruka Therapeutics. Jade launched in July and has so far raised $95 million in funding for its mission to create novel therapies for autoimmune diseases. Release
ViaNautis vaults forward with new CEO and CSO
ViaNautis Bio
ViaNautis co-founder Francesca Crawford, Ph.D., is stepping down from her role as CEO to pursue a new challenge: assembling a portfolio of nonexecutive director positions. Crawford is succeeded by Adi Hoess, M.D., Ph.D., who previously served in the top spot at Affimed N.V. for the last 13 years. Hoess won’t be alone in his onboarding, though, as newcomer Ray Jupp, Ph.D., is joining him in the C-suite as chief scientific officer. Jupp was previously CSO at Mestag Therapeutics, Enara Bio and TRex Bio. Jupp will work to advance the British company's genetic nanomedicine polyNaut platform and expand the pipeline of therapies to indications in central nervous system diseases and beyond. Release & Release
Klein takes antibody experience to Curie.Bio
Curie.Bio
After more than 22 years at Roche’s innovation center in Zurich, including the last five years as site head, Christian Klein is stepping away from the Swiss giant to become chief experience officer in residence at Boston-based biotech incubator and venture capital firm Curie.Bio. While at Roche, Klein helped develop 32 clinical-stage drug candidates, including four approved antibodies. At Curie.Bio, Klein will work with seed-stage founders to advance novel therapeutic antibodies toward the clinic. LinkedIn
> Inizio Medical is going all-in on AI with Patrick Giordani, who joins the team to take on a new role as AI solutions architect. Release
> Adeno-associated viral vector specialist AAVantgarde Bio tapped Lauren Kaskiel as its new chief business officer following her work in the same position at Code Biotherapeutics. Release
> Sankalp “Sam” Gokhale, M.D., pivoted to Arialys Therapeutics as chief medical officer after leaving his post as head of neurology at Dianthus Therapeutics. Release
> DNAnexus bolstered its leadership team with Komodo Health vet Bill Madigan as its chief commercial officer and AI expert Nupura Kolwalkar as its chief product officer. Release
> LigaChem Biosciences snagged Rodrigo Ruiz Soto, M.D., for the chief medical officer spot as the company advances its oncology-focused pipeline. Release
> Nick Galli will lead Alphina Therapeutics as CEO, replacing interim chief Barbara Fox, Ph.D., who will stay on to chair the company’s board of directors. Release
> Junaid Bajwa, M.D., is taking a leadership role at Flagship Pioneering, where he’s now senior partner and head of U.K. Release
> Multiomics provider MedGenome is seeking to expand in the U.S., with Felix Olale, M.D., Ph.D., taking over as president and CEO of U.S. operations and Jennifer Rose joining him as executive vice president and chief commercial officer. Release
> After 16 years at the helm, Sijmen de Vries, M.D., will step down as CEO of Dutch biopharma Pharming Group in May 2025, with the search for his successor currently ongoing. Release