Lundbeck CEO Deborah Dunsire is stepping down

Lundbeck chief executive Deborah Dunsire has announced her retirement, with a replacement already lined up by the company’s board.

Dunsire’s decision brings a five-year stint at the reins of the Danish pharma company to a close, with new pick Charl van Zyl due to take up the CEO position “no later” than 1st October. In the meantime, Dunsire will continue to serve as president and CEO.

Charl van Zyl is currently chief operating officer and executive vice president of neurology and head of Europe/international markets at Belgian pharma UCB, a dual role he has held since 2019, and has previously worked for BSN Medical, Bausch & Lomb, JADO Technologies, Novartis, and Eli Lilly.

Lundbeck’s chairman, Lars Rasmussen, thanked Dunsire for her contributions since becoming CEO, including “an excellent job in driving the strong commercial performance and changing and strengthening [the] R&D pipeline both through internal transformation and through some important acquisitions and licenses.”

During her watch, the company acquired Alder BioPharmaceuticals and its three-monthly intravenous CGRP inhibitor migraine drug Vyepti (eptinezumab) for $1.95 billion. The drug was approved by the FDA in 2020 and made sales of just over DKK 1 billion ($146 million) last year.

Lundbeck’s plans to expand its use hit a snag after the drug failed a phase 3 trial designed to accelerate its approval in China and other Asian markets, while competition in the migraine prevention market has ramped up, particularly from newer orally-active drugs.

Nevertheless, countries are still being added to its roll-out and Lundbeck says its share of existing markets, like the US, is increasing.

Dunsire took the helm just before one of the pharma company’s most-anticipated pipeline drugs – schizophrenia candidate Lu AF35700 – failed in phase 3, leaving a hole in its pipeline as it prepared for the loss of patent protection for big-selling epilepsy drug Onfi (clobazam) later in 2018.

She moved to bolster the pipeline with mixed success. The acquisition of Abide Therapeutics brought in a Tourette’s syndrome candidate that subsequently failed a mid-stage trial, and that disappointing outcome has been followed by an alliance with Rgenta Therapeutics on RNA-targeting therapies, a licensing deal for April Bio’s anti-CD40 therapy APB-A1 for neuroimmune diseases, and a partnership with Alloy Therapeutics to add to Lundbeck’s antibody discovery capabilities.

Charl van Zyl will be tasked with making the most of Vyepti as it continues to roll out and to handle other important launches, such as the recent label expansion of Otsuka-partnered Rexulti (brexpiprazole) to include the treatment of agitation in Alzheimer’s patients.

Rasmussen said van Zyl’s “vast experience from the pharmaceutical industry and the CNS field, combined with a strong patient focus and extensive market understanding and commercial execution track record, from both listed companies and private equity, makes him an excellent fit for Lundbeck.”