Changing Faces: Pharma and biotech hires – February 2025

February is the shortest month, but there was still plenty of time for a rush of pharma and biotech hires, including a number of changes at the big pharmas, which may have slipped under your radar, given the chaotic news coming out of the United States.

Catch up with our round-up of pharma and biotech hires from February 2025.

Cavazzoni leaves FDA for Pfizer, prompting ‘revolving door’ criticisms. As we reported in a full article last month, Patricia Cavazzoni joined Pfizer as chief medical officer after reisgning as head of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. Pfizer said that Cavazzoni will lead the group's regulatory, pharmacovigilance, safety, epidemiology, and medical information and evidence generation, among other medical functions, and will report to R&D chief Chris Boshoff. She succeeds Aida Habtezion, who is leaving the company.

Boehringer Ingelheim taps long time Novo vet. The month also saw Brian Hilberdink appointed president of US human pharma at Boehringer. Hilberdink most recently served a short stint as EVP at LEO Pharma, but before that he spent 26 years at Novo Nordisk, where he launched multiple blockbuster products and rare disease biologics.

UCB and Novo Nordisk strengthen UK leadership. Two top pharmas made big moves in their UK offices. Dr Stevan Shaw was named head of UK research at UCB, while Sebnem Avsar Tuna took on the role of UK general manager at Novo Nordisk. A researcher at UCB since 1993, Shaw succeeds Dr Alistair Henry, who became chief scientific officer in October. As for Tuna, a two-decade veteran of Novo, she most recently led Asia-Pacific operations for the company.

New CEO in at Indivior. Joe Ciaffoni was appointed CEO of Indivior, a US-based global specialty pharma focused on treatments for opioid use disorder. Ciaffoni brings over 30 years of experience in pharma and biotech, having most recently served as president and CEO of Collegium Pharmaceutical. He has also held senior positions at Endo International, Biogen, and Shionogi. Click here for our full coverage.

FreeOx Biotech expands leadership team. FreeOx Biotech, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a new drug class for the emergency treatment of acute ischaemic stroke (AIS) patients, made several key appointments in February.

• Pat Nasshorn joined as chief business development officer, bringing experience from Merck, Johnson & Johnson, and Bristol-Myers Squibb.
• Dr Ian Hitchcock was named chief development officer. His 25-year career includes senior roles at Abbott, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pharmion/Celgene, and Aimmune.
• Dr Jina Swartz who has worked in academic neurology and global clinical development, including roles at Merck, Takeda, Eisai, and GSK, was named chief medical officer.

Ona Therapeutics adds two to C-Suite. Ona Therapeutics, a Barcelona-based biotech working on novel antibody-drug conjugates, named Stéphane Durant des Aulnois as its new chief financial officer. Durant des Aulnois spent nine years in finance roles at Ipsen. Additionally, Dr Jutta Amersdorffer joined as chief medical officer, having held multiple clinical and managerial roles at Sandoz, MorphoSys, and Otsuka Novel Products.

Two more C-Suite business appointments. Two biotechs added executives on the business side. Gad Soffer was named chief business officer at LB Pharma, a New York clinical-stage biopharma developing novel therapies for the treatment of neuropsychiatric diseases, including schizophrenia. While in a former role at Rheos, Soffer landed a $700M strategic collaboration with Roche. And Dr Matthew Norkunas joined Tubulis as chief financial officer and president. Norkunas brings extensive experience in financial leadership within the life sciences industry, having served as CFO at publicly listed and private biotech companies, including Generation Bio and SomaLogic. Tubulis is a Munich and Cambridge, MA-based innovator in antibody-drug conjugates.

Aspargo Labs adds regulatory expert to leadership team. Aspargo Labs, a New York specialty pharma and med tech company converting existing medications to liquid oral suspensions delivered via a connected device, named Mario Guralnik chief regulatory officer. Guralnik brings regulatory affairs experience from Amgen, as well as extensive involvement with FDA advisory boards and industry committees.

Three SVPs round out February hires.

Ottimo Pharma, a London- and Boston-based biotech developing dual-pathway antibodies to treat cancer, announced two senior vice president hires, while New York biopharma LB Pharma announced one more.

• Dr Katherine Bell-McGuinn joined Ottimo as SVP clinical development. She has held leadership roles at 858 Therapeutics, Lilly, and Abbvie, where she led oncology early development.
• Robert Tighe was appointed Ottimo’s SVP preclinical and translational sciences. The former chief scientific officer at Ankyra Therapeutics, Tighe boasts more than 20 years of oncology experience.
• Richard Silva joined LB Pharma as SVP technical operations. Silva most recently served as SVP pharmaceutical sciences at Carmot Therapeutics, now a part of Roche.

That’s it for our pharma and biotech hires, but stay tuned for our other hires round-ups and remember, you can send your own hires to editorial@pharmaphorum.com for inclusion in this column.