BioMarin revamps leadership with ex-Roche, Amgen execs

BioMarin Pharmaceutical has made a couple of appointments aimed at boosting its pipeline, both internally and externally, with C-suite appointments in charge of R&D and business development.

Coming in as chief R&D officer is Greg Friberg, formerly of Amgen, while ex-Roche dealmaker James Sabry has been named chief business officer shortly after announcing his retirement from the Swiss group.

The new appointments come as genetic medicines specialist BioMarin is navigating a change in strategy, including a recent decision to scale down operations supporting its haemophilia A gene therapy Roctavian (valoctocogene roxaparvovec) to three key markets, narrow its R&D focus to neurology programmes, and bolster its pipeline with licensing deals.

Friberg is replacing Hank Fuchs - who is retiring after spending 15 years at BioMarin, but will retain an advisory role at the company - and will take up the role on 30th September. He has been at Amgen for 18 years, rising to the position of head of medical affairs, rare diseases.

At BioMarin he will take control of discovery research, preclinical, translational, and clinical programmes, as well as global regulatory and medical affairs, stepping into the shoes of Fuchs, who was instrumental in the development of Roctavian and other therapies like Voxzogo (vosoritide) for achondroplasia, mucopolysaccharidosis VI treatment Naglazyme (galsulfase), and Palynziq (pegvaliase) for phenylketonuria.

Sabry is stepping into a position vacated by the departure of Brinda Balakrishnan, currently BioMarin's chief corporate strategy and business development officer, who is stepping down on 1st October.

He has been leading Roche's global dealmaking activities for the last six years and was in charge of partnering for the group's Genentech unit for more than eight years before. According to BioMarin, he has been involved in 1,200 transactions in his career.

BioMarin's chief executive Alexander Hardy – who took the helm of the company after the departure of former CEO Jean-Jacques Bienaimé last December – described Friberg as "a world-class scientist and innovative thinker" and Sabry as "one of the industry's most astute dealmakers."

He also referred to Friberg's "proven record in drug development, outstanding leadership skills and expertise as a clinician" and Sabry's "scientific acumen and industry knowledge" that will be put to work "identifying important and appropriately sized transactions that support our already strong outlook."

More details of BioMarin's future plans for R&D and dealmaking are due to be given at its 2024 investor day on 4th September.