Welcome to this week's (and last 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.
Roche's pharma head departs a week after company named new diagnostics exec
Roche Pharmaceuticals
The chutes keep chuting and the ladders keep laddering for Roche, with the company now having to fill a void left by pharmaceuticals division CEO Bill Anderson. His departure comes just one week after the company named a new North America diagnostics chief, a continuation of a monthslong domino effect spurred by the promotion of Thomas Schinecker, Ph.D., to CEO of the entire company. Now, the dominoes are falling not just backward, but sideways.
Anderson became the leader of the entire pharmaceuticals division in 2019 after running Genentech, which Roche bought in 2009 for almost $50 billion. But 2022, like for much of the pharmaceutical industry, has thrown considerable haymakers Roche’s way, including setbacks to the company’s TIGIT program, which sent fears across the industry. Most recently, the company’s Alzheimer’s prospect gantenerumab failed a phase 3 trial, ending hopes that it may be able to compete with Eisai’s lecanemab or potentially Eli Lilly’s donanemab.
Filling Anderson’s position now becomes a top priority for Schinecker, who will hold the reins on an interim basis. In the past few months, a number of top pharmas have filled CEO vacancies including Biogen, Teva and Seagen. Fierce Pharma
CSL elevates manufacturing vet to CEO
CSL Behring
Riding a wave of momentum, CSL has moved to fill its top CEO spot, naming chief operating officer Paul McKenzie, Ph.D., for the role. He joined the company in 2019 after overseeing manufacturing work at Biogen. He takes over Paul Perreault, a statue of a leader at the Australia-based company after a tenure that’s lasted 25 years including 10 as CEO.
McKenzie’s promotion comes as the company looks to continue to flesh out a pharmaceuticals wing that’s coming off a monumental hemophilia B approval. UniQure, maker of the now-approved drug Hemgenix, licensed the therapy out to CSL in 2020. The going rate for the treatment is $3.5 million, making it the most expensive therapy ever.
Prior to his stint at Biogen, McKenzie worked at Merck, Bristol Myers Squibb and Johnson & Johnson. That experience likely provides a valuable glimpse into how the company views its future ambitions. CSL’s chairman, Brian McNamee, called McKenzie a “patient-focused global leader” in a release. Fierce Pharma
Nordic Nanovector in disarray following CEO, boardroom exodus
Nordic Nanovector
Just a month ago, Nordic Nanovector appeared to have stabilized itself through dealmaking, agreeing in principle to acquire APIM Therapeutics and its lead phase 2-stage cancer treatment. That stability has since vanished after Nordic’s shareholders rejected the proposed deal, spawning an exodus among the company’s board of directors. To preserve cash, Malene Brondberg—the company’s interim CEO and CFO—resigned as well. So, in summary, the board is gone along with the company’s temporary chief executive and accountant.
That leaves a bit of a mess left to be cleaned up by the shareholders. North Energy ASA, the company’s largest shareholder, has called a meeting Jan. 3 to do just that. The specifics behind why shareholders shot down the proposal were not immediately available. When the company announced the no-vote, Nordic Chairman Jan Egberts said “we did not receive the required level of shareholder support for this transaction.”
The corporate crumbling follows Nordic’s failed phase 2b trial of its lead asset Betalutin to treat lymphoma. That spurred an M&A hunt that included discussions with at least 25 companies before landing on APIM as the ideal merger. Current APIM CEO Kostas Alevizopoulos was slated to be CEO of the joint operation with Brondberg joining the board of directors. So much for that. Fierce Biotech
> Manu Platt, Ph.D., is joining the the National Institutes of Health to lead the newly launched Center for Biomedical Engineering and Technology Acceleration. He ran the Platt Lab for more than 13 years, training engineers from Morehouse, Georgia Tech and Emory University in tissue remodeling and regeneration. Tweet
> Quanta Therapeutics is bringing aboard Leonardo Faoro, M.D., as chief medical officer after he lead early clinical development at Exelexis. Prior to that, he led late-stage development at the commercial stage company. Release
> Simon Fricker is joining the executive team of Pepper Bio as chief development officer. His appointment comes after three years as VP of R&D at Phio Pharmaceuticals. Release
> Parthenon Therapeutics has found what it hopes to be its new Greek god of clinical development, tapping Joseph Paul Eder, M.D., as chief medical officer. Eder was most recently at professor at Yale and also led the school's early clinical development program. Release
> Lyell Immunopharma names Lynn Seely, M.D., as president and chief executive officer after she previously led Vant venture Myovant Sciences. GSK recently ditched a partnership with Lyell’s cell therapy, handing the program to Adaptimmune. Release
> Hookipa Pharma has made a couple of top leadership changes, including the hiring of a new chief medical officer. Katia Schlienger, M.D., has been handed the clinical reins, and Malte Peters, M.D., has been added to the company’s board of directors. Release
> Vigil Neuroscience has named David Gray, Ph.D., as its new chief scientific officer as current chief medical officer, Spyros Papapetropoulos, M.D., Ph.D., departs to become the new CEO at Bionomics. Vigil did not disclose who would replace Papapetropoulos as CMO. Release
> BioAffinity is shoring up its diagnostics team, promoting Jennifer Rebeles, Ph.D., to vice president of diagnostics while hiring a duo of research scientists. Rebeles joined the company as director of diagnostics in 2019. Release
> Axcella’s CFO and top human resources executive are departing the company amid cuts to 85% of the staff. Along with the layoffs, Axcella is cutting programs to save money and focus develop on its long COVID treatment. Fierce Biotech
> Wendy Dwyer is moving to AI Proteins to become chief business officer and lead partnership efforts. She recently was chief business officer at Saniona after two and a half years at Surface Oncology. Release
> Cell and gene therapy materials maker Akron Bio has a new CEO, naming Christopher Murphy for the job. Murphy joins from Thermo Fischer Scientific where he was VP and general manager of viral vector services. Release
> Organon has tapped Kirke Weaver to be the next general counsel after being named to the role on an interim basis in July. Prior to Organon, Weaver was a VP in Merck & Co.’s general counsel unit. Release