Changing Faces: Pharma and biotech hires for August 2024

Welcome to the August edition of Changing Faces for the pharma and biotech sectors. We’ve gone beyond the press releases for this one with a few hires picked up on different channels which you may have missed, so give this one a close read. August is always a slow month for just about everything, but there was plenty of hustle and bustle in the pharma world.

Two departures from AstraZeneca. AstraZeneca said goodbye to two leaders this month. Dr Jennifer Joe, who served as global medical strategy and population health senior director, departed to join Diality, a medical device company bringing long-awaited innovation to the kidney care space. She’ll serve as VP medical affairs. And Ankita Deshpande has left her position as head of digital health and experience innovation at Alexion Pharmaceuticals, the rare disease arm of AstraZeneca acquired in 2021, according to a post on LinkedIn. Deshpande concluded a seven-year tenure at Alexion. She’s yet to announce her next move.

Commercial leader leaves Grünenthal. Flourent Edouard, who spent the last seven years as SVP and global commercial lead at German pain management specialist Grünenthal Group, also announced his departure from the company on LinkedIn.

Pfizer makes big AI hire. Pfizer, the New York-based pharmaceutical giant known for its work in rare diseases, oncology, and infectious diseases, bolstered its AI capabilities by appointing Berta Rodriguez-Hervas as chief AI and analytics officer. Rodriguez-Hervas, who will co-chair Pfizer's AI council, brings extensive AI experience from her time at companies like NVIDIA and Tesla. Full coverage here.

Two new biotech CEOs. We only saw two changes at the very top of the corporate pyramid this month.

Arun Swaminathan has taken the helm as CEO of Coya Therapeutics. An internal promotion, Swaminathan had served as chief business officer since April 2023, following his role as founder and CEO of Lynkogen. Coya Therapeutics, based in Houston, Texas, is developing immunotherapies based on regulatory T-cells.
Jonathan Rigby stepped into the CEO role at Sernova this month. Rigby, who lives with Type 1 diabetes himself, brings extensive experience as a CEO and board member in the diabetes space. Sernova, with offices in Boston and London, Ontario, is working on cell therapies for chronic diseases using a novel delivery system.

Two for the C-Suite at BioMarin. BioMarin Pharmaceutical, a longstanding biotech developing therapies for rare genetic disorders, announced two executive changes. Dr Greg Friberg succeeds the retiring Dr Hank Fuchs as EVP, chief research & development officer. Friberg arrived after an 18-year tenure at Amgen, where he most recently served as VP, global medical affairs, rare disease. Meanwhile, Dr James Sambry joined as chief business officer, bringing a wealth of experience from over 1,200 transactions at companies like Roche and Genentech, as well as CEO roles at Arete Therapeutics and Cytokinetics. He steps into the role previously held by Dr Brinda Balakrishnan, who is departing after 8 years (and nearly 20 assets added to the company’s portfolio). Full coverage here.

Three new faces at 4DMT. 4DMT, a California-based clinical-stage genetic medicines company, made three key appointments early in the month, including veterans from Novartis and Genentech.

Christopher Simms joined as chief commercial officer, bringing leadership experience from J&J, Genentech, and Novartis.
Dhaval Desai became chief development officer, having previously served as VP and medical unit head of ophthalmology at Novartis.
Dr Carlos Quezada-Ruiz was appointed SVP and therapeutic area head for ophthalmology. He was involved in the development and approval of Vabysmo and Susvimo at Genentech.

Novocure lures away hill staffer. Novocure, a Switzerland-based global oncology company, has appointed Elle Whitson as director of US federal government affairs, according to a Politico scoop. (The company didn’t respond to a request for confirmation.) Whitson's background included roles as chief of staff for House Budget Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) and experience with the House Energy & Commerce committee.

Biotechs add distinguished CMOs. Several companies bolstered their medical leadership with recruits boasting impressive bona fides.

Dr Prakash Bhuyan took on the role of chief medical officer at SpyBiotech. An infectious disease specialist, Bhuyan brings experience from his roles as chief medical officer at Aerium and head of clinical development for vaccines and immune therapies at AstraZeneca.
Faron Pharmaceuticals, a Finland-based company focused on cancer immunotherapy, welcomed Dr Petri Bono as chief medical officer. Dr Bono previously served as chief medical officer at Terveystalo, Finland's largest private healthcare service provider.
Sagar Vaidya joined Cerevance as chief medical officer, moving from his role as VP of clinical development at Travere Therapeutics. Cerevance, a Boston biotech, is working on precision treatments for CNS disorders.

Quotient’s new CSO and more R&D hires. We saw a handful of additional scientific and development roles this month.

Quotient Therapeutics, a preclinical spinout of Flagship Pioneering with a novel focus on somatic genetics, appointed Peter Campbell as chief scientific officer in August. Campbell, a distinguished cancer genomics researcher, previously headed the cancer, ageing, and somatic mutation department at the Wellcome Sanger Institute.
Brian Varnum joined Holoclara as head of research and development, bringing over 30 years of biotech experience, including his experience as CEO of Armata Pharmaceuticals. Holoclara, based in Pasadena, CA, is investigating worm-derived oral therapies for allergies and autoimmune diseases.
Incyclix Bio welcomed Dr Andrew Beelen as VP of clinical development. Beelen's experience has included clinical development leadership at G1 Therapeutics and positions at Quintiles, Watson Laboratories, Myrexis, and GlaxoSmithKline.

Ascidian adds to C-Suite, VP ranks. Ascidian Therapeutics, a Boston-based gene therapy company utilising RNA exon editing, announced multiple appointments this month, including two executive appointments.

Dr Bob Bell was promoted to chief scientific officer after three years as head of research at Ascidian. His background also includes eight years at Pfizer.
Eva Zhou joined as chief people officer, bringing eight years of experience from Biogen, where she most recently headed global executive search.
Melissa Green stepped into the newly created role of VP, head of regulatory and quality, leveraging her regulatory experience from LFB and Spark Therapeutics.
John Kerwin becomes VP, head of technical development, bringing gene therapy leadership experience from Resilience and Biogen.

Biotechs bolster financial and business leadership. Several companies also strengthened their financial and business leadership this month:

Dragonfly Therapeutics - a Massachusetts clinical-stage biopharma developing immunotherapies both independently and in partnership with big pharmas like Gilead, Merck, and BMS - appointed Dr Susan Altschuller as chief financial officer. Altschuller previously served as CFO at Cerevel Therapeutics until its recent acquisition by AbbVie.
Jim Beitel joined San Diego biotech Cidara as chief business officer, following his role as SCP corporate development at Fate Therapeutics.
Ovid Therapeutics, an NYC biotech working on treatments for epilepsy and similar conditions, welcomed Dr Amanda Banks as chief development officer. Dr Banks co-founded and served as CEO of Blackfynn, a data platform company focused on accelerating therapeutic development for neurological diseases.
Greg Chow became chief financial and business officer at Boston chronic inflammatory disease specialist NodThera, bringing CFO experience from Freenome Holdings, Frontier Medicines, and Aptose Biosciences.
CytoSorbents, a leader in blood purification therapeutics, appointed Peter J. Mariani as CFO, replacing the retiring Kathleen P. Bloch. Mariani's experience included CFO roles at Lensar and Hansen Medical.
Yrjö Wichmann officially stepped into the CFO role at Finland’s Faron Pharmaceuticals, having served as interim CFO since April and previously as CFO between 2014 and 2019.
FORE Biotherapeutics, a mid-stage Philadelphia-based precision oncology company, named Michael Byrnes to the CFO post. Byrnes previously held the CFO position at eFFECTOR Therapeutics.

Last, but not least. Finally, three more notable appointments that didn’t quite fit anywhere else:

89Bio, a San Francisco clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, appointed Francis Serena as chief operating officer. Serena's 25-year experience included a role as chief strategy officer at Five Prime Therapeutics, where he oversaw the company's acquisition by Amgen.
Memo Therapeutics, a Zurich-based late-stage biotech company, welcomed Alex Bastian as VP commercial strategy. Bastian brings valuable market access experience from his time at AM-Pharma and Galapagos.
John Rooper, who has done life sciences M&A work at Ernst and Young and Advanz Pharma, has joined up with UK specialty pharma business Kelso Pharma as director of corporate development, following Kelso’s acquisition of Italy’s Velit Biopharma.

That’s it for this edition of Changing Faces. Don’t forget that Board appointments are now in their own separate edition. Remember, if you’ve had a recent appointment and you work in or around the pharma space, we want to hear about it. Please send your press releases to editorial@pharmaphorum.com to be included in future editions of Changing Faces.