Iris Loew-Friedrich→ UCB is shaking up its leadership team “to better align with its commitment to growth and innovation, and to better address the dynamic external landscape of the healthcare industry,” according to a company update on Thursday. The Belgian pharma announced the retirements of medical chief Iris Loew-Friedrich (“later in 2024”) and CSO Dhavalkumar Patel (in June). Loew-Friedrich joined UCB in 2006 and has held the CMO post for the past 16 years. Head of UK research Alistair Henry, a 26-year UCB vet, will succeed Patel, who started at the company in 2017 following a decade at Novartis.
Emmanuel Caeymaex, who celebrated his 30th year with UCB in March, has been bumped up to chief commercial officer after a stint as head of immunology and head of US. Meanwhile, Fiona du Monceau has resigned from the board to become EVP of patient evidence. She first came to UCB from Eli Lilly in 2014 as bone global commercial lead and head of EU, bone division. From 2020-23, du Monceau handled the roles of CFO and COO at ExeVir.
Jie D’Elia→ Bristol Myers Squibb said in December it would fork over $800 million upfront in an antibody-drug conjugate deal with SystImmune that, apart from M&A in this particular space, was only eclipsed in value last year by Merck’s $4 billion upfront commitment to Daiichi Sankyo. Who better to lead SystImmune than an exec from the pharma partner that helped put it on the map? Jie D’Elia has succeeded Yi Zhu as CEO after 11 years with Bristol, where she was SVP for business development in oncology, hematology, and cell therapy. Earlier, D’Elia worked for Simcere as its global head of business development.
Giovanni Caforio→ Giovanni Caforio is nominated to be the next chairman of the board at Novartis as Joerg Reinhardt plans to retire in 2025, according to the Swiss pharma’s first-quarter earnings report. Moves like this one to an industry peer are few and far between: Caforio spent more than two decades at Bristol Myers and wrapped up his eight-year tenure as CEO in November. And although CEO Vas Narasimhan has insisted that smaller bolt-ons are the M&A strategy at Novartis, he would have a chairman who orchestrated the $74 billion purchase of Celgene at his disposal.
Doug Manion→ Doug Manion has reemerged in Peer Review as CEO of Flare Therapeutics, the Third Rock cancer biotech that bagged a $123 million Series B round in March 2023. Third Rock partner and interim chief Abbie Celniker will still chair the board at Flare, which was helmed by former Ovid Therapeutics president Amit Rakhit until last November. We’ve had Manion all over this space in the past three years: The Bristol Myers vet became the R&D chief at Arena Pharmaceuticals before it was sold to Pfizer; he then left for Aclaris Therapeutics as president and COO in August 2022; and he replaced Neal Walker as CEO five months later. But shortly after Aclaris’ resounding Phase 2 failure with its oral MK2 inhibitor zunsemetinib for severe rheumatoid arthritis in November, Manion was out the door again.
Andy Kidd→ Gilead and AbbVie partner Tentarix Biotherapeutics has introduced Andy Kidd as CEO, permanently filling the role left behind by current Radionetics chief Paul Grayson. Kidd takes another swing as a chief executive after Aptinyx was decimated by clinical setbacks and eventually shut down last year. Tentarix’s deals with Gilead and AbbVie are worth a combined $130 million upfront.
→ Evotec has tapped former Mediq boss Christian Wojczewski to replace Werner Lanthaler as CEO on July 1. Interim chief Mario Polywka will retire and won’t be up for reelection on the supervisory board. Evotec is tightening its belt as profits fell short of expectations, and it’s also mindful of the impact that the Biosecure Act could have on its business with a top competitor like WuXi under the microscope. “We are ready to serve partners with our global footprint, with our footprint in the US and Europe,” Evotec CBO Matthias Evers said on Wednesday. Lanthaler resigned in January after 15 years as CEO.
Bill Meury→ Endpoints News covered a couple other CEO moves this week: On Monday, Nicole DeFeudis told you about ex-Karuna Therapeutics chief Bill Meury’s next landing spot at heart disease biotech Anthos Therapeutics. Reuters reported in December that Blackstone was mulling over a potential sale of the Novartis spinout, which has had mid-stage success with its lead program abelacimab. Bristol Myers bought Karuna and its schizophrenia drug KarXT for $14 billion.
Also on Monday, Kyle LaHucik scooped the appointment of former Homology Medicines CEO Albert Seymour at German gene editing shop Seamless Therapeutics. Along with the new CEO and another $12.5 million in funding, Seamless named former Rodin Therapeutics chief Adam Rosenberg as its chairman of the board. Seymour’s predecessor, Anne-K. Heninger, is currently the head of operations at Seamless’ site in Dresden.
Thomas Smart→ Thomas Smart has replaced co-founder Chris Thanos as CEO of Berkeley, CA-based solid tumor biotech Actym Therapeutics. Smart also founded and held the top spot at Gravitas Therapeutics, which sold its antifungal GR-2397 to Basilea Pharmaceutica last fall. Actym hopes to start clinical studies of its lead asset ACTM-838 in the second quarter.
→ CureVac’s new CBO Thaminda Ramanayake will arrive on June 1, a year after he took the same job at Affini-T Therapeutics. Ramanayake left BioMarin in 2020 to become senior director, global transactions at Sanofi, and he would later be promoted to global head of business development in oncology. This week, CureVac also announced cost-cutting measures that will give the company enough cushion into the fourth quarter of 2025. The reorg also includes the voluntary departure of 150 employees.
Ajay Nirula→ Following an eight-year career with Eli Lilly, Ajay Nirula has taken on the role of R&D chief at Sanofi’s small molecule partner Recludix Pharma. Most recently, Nirula had been SVP of immunology for Lilly Research Laboratories at the Lilly Biotechnology Center in San Diego. Recludix also added Gilead vet and ex-Third Harmonic Bio CSO Adrian Ray to its scientific advisory board.
Randy Teel→ Arvinas has promoted interim finance chief Randy Teel to CBO as the protein degradation player hunts for ex-CFO Sean Cassidy’s replacement. Teel spent more than two years at Alexion before pivoting to Arvinas as VP of corporate development. He was elevated to SVP in 2021. “Over his nearly six years at Arvinas, Randy has demonstrated exceptional leadership,” CEO John Houston said about the biotech’s first-ever business chief. “Since our 2018 initial public offering, he has fostered strong relationships with investors and partners alike.”
Joana Goncalves→ Chronic skin disease biotech Oruka Therapeutics, which reverse merged with ARCA biopharma this month, has recruited Joana Goncalves as CMO and Eugenia Levi as VP of medical affairs. Goncalves is a 10-year Novartis vet who just ended a five-year run as CMO of Cara Therapeutics, and Novartis just promoted Levi to global head of medical affairs for Cosentyx in February. Both execs held positions in medical affairs for Otezla at Celgene before Amgen picked up the psoriasis drug.
Neha Krishnamohan→ Off-the-shelf NK cell therapy maker Artiva Biotherapeutics has enlisted Goldman Sachs alum Neha Krishnamohan as CFO and EVP, corporate development, while promoting Jennifer Bush to COO. Krishnamohan held the same posts at Kinnate Biopharma, which was sold to XOMA in February, and she’s on the board of directors at Arcutis. Bush had served as Artiva’s chief legal & people officer since 2021 and she will still be legal chief in addition to her duties as corporate secretary and compliance officer.
→ Montreal-based Congruence Therapeutics has dipped into Schrödinger’s talent pool for its new CBO. Forest Labs alum Frank Taffy joined Schrödinger in 2021 and was head of business development. Last year, Congruence added $15 million to its $50 million Series A haul as the biotech uses AI and machine learning to boost drug discovery.
John Hayslip→ Boston-based Verastem Oncology has appointed John Hayslip as CMO, replacing Louis Denis, who recently parted ways with the company. Hayslip also served in the role at I-Mab; before that, he was VP of clinical development at Nektar Therapeutics and led clinical development for a number of therapies at AbbVie Oncology.
Anu Gore→ A spokesperson for Bausch + Lomb tells Peer Review that the company has selected Anu Gore as VP, formulation sciences and product development. As you would expect, Gore worked for Brent Saunders at Allergan as executive director, small molecule product development. She had been AbbVie’s executive director and asset strategy lead, eye care/ophthalmology since 2020.
→ PharmaEssentia has rolled out the welcome mat for Robert Geller as head of medical. Geller joins the team from Aravive, where he was CMO. Prior to that, he had gigs at Coherus Biosciences, Heron Therapeutics, Alexion and Vion Pharmaceuticals.
Anta Gkelou→ European VC Sofinnova has promoted Anta Gkelou and Guillaume Baxter to partner-level positions. Gkelou came to Sofinnova in 2017 and has served as a principal on the capital strategy team since 2020, while Baxter has been on the industrial biotech strategy crew “since its early days,” he said in a statement.
Garry Menzel→ TCR² Therapeutics’ former president and CEO Garry Menzel is now making an appearance at London-based GHO Capital Partners as operating partner. Menzel still sits on the board of TCR², Black Diamond Therapeutics and Stoke Therapeutics. Earlier in his career, Menzel was CFO of DaVita Healthcare Partners.
→ One of biotech’s newest Nasdaq listings, Arrivent BioPharma, has welcomed Bristol Myers and J&J alum Kristine Peterson to the board of directors. Peterson was on ImmunoGen’s board for 12 years before AbbVie shelled out $10.1 billion for the company last fall. She also has board seats at Immunocore and Enanta Pharmaceuticals.
Bill Fairey→ Led by first-year CEO Ben Palleiko after Andy Crockett’s resignation, hereditary angioedema biotech KalVista Pharmaceuticals has reserved a seat for longtime Actelion exec Bill Fairey on the board of directors. The one-time commercial chief at MyoKardia chairs the board at Respira Therapeutics, and he’s a board member at Aileron Therapeutics, Ascendis Pharma and Mirum Pharmaceuticals.
→ ProQR has nominated Martin Maier for a seat on the board of directors. Maier is Alnylam’s SVP of research in charge of the oncology group and he’s been with the company for 18 years overall.
→ “Cell pouch” developer Sernova has appointed Bernd Muehlenweg to the board of directors. Muehlenweg was promoted to his current role as SVP of global business development at Evotec in November 2022 and is the ex-CBO at Nanobiotix.