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.
Pfizer replaces retiring CSO with cancer chief
Pfizer
Pfizer has found a successor for retiring Chief Scientific Officer and R&D head Mikael Dolsten, M.D., Ph.D., tapping the company’s own Chris Boshoff, M.D., Ph.D., for the job and prompting a domino effect of leadership changes. Boshoff will leave his role as chief oncology officer and executive vice president at the start of the new year to take on the top scientist spot. Before becoming cancer chief, Boshoff served stints as the company's chief development officer for oncology and rare disease and head of development in Japan. Chief Development Officer of Oncology Roger Dansey, M.D., will take Boshoff’s chief oncology reins in an interim capacity, and his position in turn will be handed down to Johanna Bendell, M.D., who is joining Pfizer in 2025. Story
Amgen adds Stanford scientist to C-suite
Amgen
Stanford physician-scientist Howard Chang, M.D., Ph.D., will join Amgen in a few weeks, filling the roles of both senior vice president of research and chief scientific officer. A little over a month ago, Amgen’s former senior vice president of research, Ray Deshaies, Ph.D., hit the exit after about seven years with the Big Pharma. Now, the California-based company has found a replacement in Chang, while also having him step into the CSO role that Jay Bradner, M.D., previously occupied. Bradner will remain in his role as executive vice president of R&D, with Chang reporting to him. Story
Jupiter takes off on $70M mission to spot “moons”
Jupiter Bioventures
Nathaniel "Ned" David, Ph.D., and Norman "Ned" Sharpless’ venture capital fund Jupiter Bioventures is ready for takeoff after locking down a $70 million landing pad to use on potential “moons,” or potential biotech projects that will be assessed and validated by Jupiter with the most promising in line for additional investment. Jupiter was born as the two experienced entrepreneurs set out to create a “science first” model that could return higher multiples on invested capital. David previously co-founded companies such as Takeda’s Syrrx, while Sharpless has served as the director of the National Cancer Institute and acting commissioner of the FDA. Mission BioCapital and the Mayo Clinic signed on as co-founding investors in the fund, with others including Alexandria Venture Investments and Bioventure Partners joining in on the $70 million initial financing. Story
> Volker Herrmann, M.D., has stepped away from the helm of Flagship Pioneering-backed Sonata Therapeutics, with Chairman David Khougazian taking over as acting CEO; the company also laid off approximately 20 employees. Story
> Schizophrenia-focused LB Pharmaceuticals’ co-founder Zachary Prensky is leaving the CEO spot to Heather Turner, the former chief of Roche-acquired Carmot Therapeutics. Release
> Flagship Pioneering-founded Mirai Bio pulled Bayer’s former global head of biotech Jens Vogel, Ph.D., for the president and COO role, leaving founding President Hari Pujar, Ph.D., to continue on at the company as a board member. Release
> Amy Sehnert, M.D., is moving from leadership roles at Bristol Myers Squibb to Thryv Therapeutics, where she will replace founding Chief Medical Officer Philip Sager, M.D., in the role. Release
> ExeVir Bio, known for its llama-derived antibody technology, has selected a CEO in Michael Garrett, a patent attorney who founded Flamingo Therapeutics. Release
> Experienced executive Faisal Mehmud, M.D., is Medicus Pharma’s new chief medical officer, replacing Edward Brennan, M.D., who was promoted to chief scientific officer and head of the company’s R&D program. Release
> MindMed welcomed Gregg Pratt, Ph.D., as chief regulatory and quality assurance officer following a stint in the same role at Bristol Myers Squibb’s recently acquired Karuna Therapeutics. Release
> Rytelo maker Geron Corporation chose Joseph Eid, M.D., whose resume includes work at Roche, Merck and Bristol Myers Squibb, to head up R&D. Release
> Georgiamune is capping off its busy year with a new chief business officer as Pfizer vet Mark Avagliano joins the team. Release
> Thomas Manley, M.D., is set to lead the development of Rondo Therapeutics’ phase 1-nearing bladder cancer candidate and other immunotherapies as chief medical officer. Release
> Flagship Pioneering picked Angela Hwang, who recently hung up the gloves as chief commercial officer and president of Pfizer’s global biopharmaceutical business, to serve as a CEO-partner and as CEO of Flagship-founded Metaphore Biotechnologies. Release
> Michael Klobuchar has left Merck after 26 years to become chief operating officer of Eikon Therapeutics, a company using advanced engineering to enhance drug discovery and development. Release
> Paragon Therapeutics has appointed former Dyne COO Susanna High to be its first CEO. Release
> Unnatural Products has appointed Simon Bailey, Ph.D., as chief operating officer and president of R&D to help the company’s mission of developing oral macrocyclic peptides to address previously undruggable targets. Release
> Douglas Throckmorton, M.D., the deputy center director for regulatory programs at the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), will retire in early January after 34 years of federal service, according to an email from CDER director Patrizia Cavazzoni, M.D.
> Day One Biopharmaceuticals co-founder and R&D head Samuel Blackman, M.D., Ph.D., is retiring at the end of the year, but will serve as a strategic adviser and consultant while his replacement is sought. Release
> Norwegian BerGenBio, a biotech developing novel AXL kinase inhibitors, has appointed Olav Hellebø as its CEO. Release
> Computation-focused Biolojic Design has tapped GSK vet Neal Curran as its chief business officer. Release