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 Max Bayer or Gabrielle Masson, and we will feature it here at the end of each week.
Sanofi CSO departs amid R&D overhaul
Sanofi
Sanofi Chief Scientific Officer and Head of Research Frank Nestle, M.D., has exited the company, the most high-profile departure since the French pharma instituted a global R&D restructuring last month.
Nestle had been at the company for almost eight years, ascending from the the head of immunology research and North America CSO to global scientific chief. He was a dermatologist and immunology scholar for 12 years at King’s College of London before joining Sanofi and is an emeritus senior investigator at the U.K.'s National Institute for Health and Care Research.
His departure follows the initiation of a large-scale global overhaul, with Sanofi shifting its spending away from earlier-stage research and oncology projects to clinical-stage immunology work. The French pharma has narrowed its research with IGM Biosciences and trimmed staff in Belgium associated with the acquisition of Ablynx. Sanofi divested from a research site it got hold of after buying Amunix and has fully devised from immuno-oncology biotech Kiadis.
Of note, Nestle chaired Kiadis’ board for about a year and a half beginning in 2021. Fierce Biotech
Citi’s healthcare equities research chief joins Pfizer C-suite
Pfizer
I think we know now why Andrew Baum, M.D. wasn’t asking questions on Pfizer’s latest earnings call.
The longtime Wall Street analyst has joined the New York pharma’s C-suite as chief strategy and innovation officer. He’ll report directly to CEO Albert Bourla, Ph.D., and be tasked with guiding the company’s strategy from a 10,000-foot level, overseeing portfolio analysis and business development. As such, he will also chair Pfizer’s portfolio management team, a committee tasked with doling out capital to R&D projects with the most promise.
Ironically, the key strategy hire has come after Pfizer just made a seismic shift in, well, strategy. To be determined whether Baum likes what he sees. Pfizer spent the latter third of 2023, and some of 2024, trimming research, laying off employees and emphasizing new oncology investments, none bigger than the $43 billion acquisition of Seagen.
Baum’s hiring mirrors that of Novartis’ hiring of Ronny Gal, who joined the Swiss pharma in 2022 after 17 years at Sanford Bernstein. Fierce Pharma
Acleyrin’s founding CEO shockingly exits
Acelyrin
Shao-Lee Lin, M.D., Ph.D., the founding CEO of Acelyrin, has stepped down.
Lin launched Acelyrin after leaving Horizon Therapeutics, which was ultimately bought by Amgen. Her research prowess in immunology was the backbone of the company’s pipeline, led by izokibep.
That said, the last year has been a mixed bag. Acelyrin was one of the sole bright spots among 2023 Wall Street entrants from the biotech industry, but a midstage trial failure testing izokibep as a treatment for hidradenitis suppurativa sent the share price spiraling. The company has since dusted itself off, with more positive long-term data from the same trial plus an encouraging readout in psoriatic arthritis. The company’s direct challenger to Horizon’s Tepezza, lonigutamab, also showed early signs of promise in people with thyroid eye disease.
Lin is being replaced by Chief Legal and Administrative Officer Mina Kim. Concurrently, Shephard Mpofu, M.D., has been promoted to chief medical officer, CFO Gil Labrucherie has tacked on chief business officer duties and Sanam Pangali has been promoted to chief legal officer and head of people. Release
> Wave Life Sciences is making, well, waves, bringing on GSK’s Erik Ingelsson, M.D., Ph.D., to serve as chief scientific officer. Before serving as GSK’s SVP and head of target discovery, Ingelsson was the Big Pharma’s SVP of genomic sciences. Release
> Steve Labkoff, M.D., has joined Bristol Myers Squibb as VP of development and medical analytics. The Labkoff & Associates Healthcare Informatics founder and CEO previously served as global head of clinical and healthcare informatics at Quantori. LinkedIn
> Neuropsychiatry-focused Seaport Therapeutics has appointed co-founder Michael Chen, Ph.D., to serve as the newly emerged biotech’s chief scientific officer and also tapped Eric Green as chief operating officer. Most recently, Chen served as the head of innovation at PureTech Health, while Green held the role of SVP and head of development programs at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals. Release
> Gilead Sciences has promoted Peter Wickersham to serve as VP and general manager of all operations occurring in the U.K. and Ireland. Wickersham previously led the pharma’s liver disease and COVID-19 business arm in the U.S., according to a press release emailed to Fierce Biotech from a company spokesperson.
> Starting May 13, Stacy Lindborg, Ph.D., is taking the helm as Imunon’s president and CEO. Lindborg, who has served on Imunon’s board since 2021, joins from Biogen, where she was VP of global analytics and data sciences head. Release
> China-based Qihan Biotech has tapped Yingyong Xu to serve as the genome editing company’s chief medical officer. Xu joins from Zai lab, where he was VP of clinical activities, and has experience working at Bristol Myers Squibb and Celgene before that. Release
> ITM Isotope Technologies has appointed Danielle Meyrick, Ph.D., M.D., as chief medical officer. Previously, Meyrick has held leadership roles across GenesisCare, AdvanCell Isotopes and Telix Pharmaceuticals. Release
> Autoimmune-focused Topas Therapeutics has tapped Hugo Fry to lead as CEO. Most recently, Fry served as chief business officer and managing director of 20Med Therapeutics. Release
> Terns Pharmaceuticals has appointed Scott Harris as chief development officer, effective May 28, as president and head of R&D Erin Quick hits the exits after five years with the company. Harris most recently served as chief operating officer of Cleave Therapeutics. Release
> Flagship’s Cellarity has chosen Christopher (Topher) Woelk, Ph.D., as VP and head of platform. Woelk has previously served as head of translational genomics at Verge Genomics and head of systems biology at Merck’s Exploratory Science Center. Release
> Michael Harvey, Ph.D., has joined Congruence Therapeutics as chief development officer. Before Congruence, Harvey was at Inversago Pharma, which was acquired by Novo Nordisk in August 2023. Release
> Ratio Therapeutics is adding on Marc Becker as chief financial officer and chief operating officer. Becker joins from Flagship, where he served as CFO of growth companies. Release
> Nimbus Therapeutics has appointed Anita Scheuber, M.D., Ph.D., as SVP and therapeutic area head of oncology. Most recently, she served as VP and head of clinical development of oncology at Pfizer’s Trillium Therapeutics. Release
> YS Biopharma’s board has chosen Dave Chenn as interim CEO and former head Hui Shao as co-CEO and chief business officer. Chenn currently serves as CEO and managing partner of Oceanpine Capital, an investment management firm he founded in 2018. Release
> Alcyone Therapeutics has appointed Kathrin Meyer, Ph.D., to step on as the neurology-focused company’s chief scientific officer and head of R&D. Meyer is a co-inventor of Alcyone's miREX microRNA gene expression platform. Release
> Vivodyne has chosen Julie O'Shaughnessy to serve as the biotech’s chief operating officer. Before joining Vivodyne, she held leadership roles at Resilience and Amazon Web Services. Release
Editor's note: This story was updated to correct details about Acelyrin's CEO exit and to reflect that the company had a separate release announcing Lin's departure.