Changing Faces

Welcome back to another edition of Changing Faces. To get caught up, we’re rounding up all the hires, appointments, and promotions we heard about in the pharma and biotech world in the months of May and June. Stay tuned for more round-ups looking at pharma suppliers, agencies, investors, and more.

Pfizer looks to finance world for strategy hire. Veteran biotech analyst Andrew Baum has been appointed as the chief strategy and innovation officer at Pfizer. Baum brings a wealth of experience from his 13 years at Citi and another 14 at Morgan Stanley. As we wrote in our full coverage, he’s got his work cut out for him, having been given the job of coming up with Pfizer’s long-term strategic plan, reporting directly to group chief executive, Albert Bourla.

Lilly, Gilead put in new UK heads. A couple of big pharma changes for the UK & Ireland market: Chris Stokes has taken up the role of general manager, UK at Eli Lilly. Stokes, who has held a variety of roles in different regions at Lilly over the past 15 years, replaces Laura Steele, who is moving into a senior role in Lilly’s neuroscience division in the US. Meanwhile, Gilead Sciences has promoted Pete Wickersham to the role of general manager for the UK & Ireland region. Wickersham, an internal hire, most recently led Gilead’s liver disease and COVID-19 business unit in the US.

Four biotechs name new CEOs. The months of May and June saw significant changes at the helm of several biotech companies. Here’s a closer look at these new appointments:

At NodThera, a Boston-based biotech focused on innovative treatments for chronic inflammatory diseases, Daniel Swisher took the reins as CEO. Swisher, who spent five and a half years as president and chief operating officer at Jazz before retiring last year, also brings nearly 16 years of experience as CEO of Sunesis Pharma, which merged with Viracta Therapeutics in 2021. Our full coverage here.
Dr Andrew Cavey stepped into the role of CEO at ITM, a German biotech specialising in radiopharmaceuticals. With a rich background that includes leading haematology, oncology, and cell therapy at BMS, and leading Novartis’ radiopharmaceutical therapy strategy, Cavey brings a wealth of experience to his new role.
Sapreme, a Dutch biotech working on next-generation RNA therapeutics, named Marco Timmers to its top role. Timmers most recently served as CEO of Byondis, a pharma company working on ADCs.
Hugo Fry, a seasoned executive with previous roles including chief commercial officer at Imbria Pharmaceuticals, chief business officer and managing director at 20Med Therapeutics, and CEO of RQ Biotechnology, assumed the position of CEO at Topas Therapeutics. The Hamburg, Germany firm is developing novel antigen-specific therapies to treat autoimmune disorders.

Seaport bolsters leadership team. Seaport Therapeutics, a relatively new PureTech Health spin-out working on novel neuropsychiatric medicines, made several more key appointments. Michael Chen, a Seaport co-founder and former head of innovation at PureTech Health, has been appointed as the chief scientific officer. Eric Green, who comes from Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and has previous roles at Genzyme and Pfizer, is the new chief operating officer. Dr Antony Loebel, former president and CEO of Sunovion Pharmaceuticals, has been appointed as chief medical officer and president of clinical development, while Lana Gladstein, who brings two decades of corporate legal experience, including navigating M&A transactions, has been appointed as general counsel. Lastly, Denise Torres, a pharma veteran who has held leadership positions at Johnson & Johnson and Eli Lilly, has joined the Board of Directors.

Meanwhile at the parent company, Raju Kucherlapati has taken the reins as the full Chair of the Board at PureTech Health, after nearly a decade on the board and a year as interim Chair.

Drug discovery firms make key appointments on both sides of the pond. Parallel Bio, an AI-powered immunotherapy company in Cambridge, Massachusetts, brought on Ari Gesher as Head of Technology. Gesher is a deep tech insider with experience at Insight M and Palantir. Meanwhile, in the other Cambridge, Macomics, a UK-based macrophage drug discovery company founded by University of Edinburgh professors, hired Simon Dew as chief business officer. Dew's extensive 25+ year career includes tenures at Astellas, IQVIA, and GSK.

New eyes on the books. May and June saw plenty of C-Suite hires in the biotech and pharma worlds, including a number of chief financial officer appointments.

Ratio Therapeutics, a Boston-based biotech focusing on new approaches to targeted radiotherapy, named Marc Becker as both CFO and COO. Becker’s 20+ year background includes leadership roles at Concert Pharmaceuticals, CRISPR Therapeutics, and Genzyme.
Another company hiring a combination CFO/COO was Kronos Bio, a California biotech focused on therapeutics that target dysregulated transcription in cancer and other diseases. They appointed Deborah Knobleman, who most recently served as CFO at Senti Bio.
Florian Schmid, previously CFO of Vivoryon Therapeutics, stepped into the role of chief financial officer at iOmx Therapeutics, a German clinical-stage biotech focused on novel treatments targeting solid tumours.
Compugen, an Israeli immunotherapy company specialising in computational target discovery, appointed David Silberman as CFO. Silberman brings a 15-year career in finance, with 10 years in healthcare.
Kieth Dewedoff, previously CFO at Ceptur Therapeutics and Kaizen Bioscience, joined SpyBiotech as CFO. The company is developing a vaccine platform targeting infectious disease, cancer, and chronic disease.

More business and ops leaders. As if five new CFOs wasn’t enough, four more companies named chief operating officers and chief business officers as well:

Alto Neuroscience, a clinical stage biopharma company focused on the novel field of precision psychiatry, welcomes Michael Hanley as chief operating officer. Hanley brings more than 20 years of sales and product development experience. We featured Alto on a recent podcast.
Stephan Toutain steps into the role of COO at PDS Biotech, a Princeton, New Jersey-based late-stage immunotherapy company. Toutain has served in various C-Suite roles at Anavex Life Sciences and Interleukin Genetics, and got his start at Celgene and Johnson & Johnson.
Ashley Nagle brings 25 years of biopharma leadership experience to his new role as chief business officer at Epsilogen, a London-based biotech developing immunoglobulin E antibodies to treat cancer.
Omega Therapeutics, a Cambridge, MA biotech exploring programmable mRNA medicines, welcomed Kaan Certel as CBO. Certel’s 20-year career in pharmaceutical innovation includes a stint as global head of oncology external innovation at Sanofi.

Medical and scientific C-Suite hires. Lest you think it’s all business in the biotech world, May and June were rife with hires on the R&D side as well. Here’s the haul:

Dr Leon Hooftman joined Barinthus Bio as chief medical officer. With senior roles at Roche and USB under his belt and numerous successful drug development programmes to his name, Dr Hooftman brings his expertise to an Oxford biopharma specialising in novel T-cell immunotherapy candidates.
June marked the appointment of Dr Renu Gupta at Enterprise Therapeutics, a Brighton-based company delving into mucus congestion causes in lungs, as chief medical officer. Gupta’s 30-year biotech journey includes her most recent role as CMO at Roche’s Promedior.
Dr Stefan C. Weiss, a practicing dermatologist who recently served as managing director at OM1, joined SFA Therapeutics as their new chief medical officer. The Pennsylvania pharma company is focusing on oral compounds for inflammatory diseases.
German biotech ITM gained a seasoned professional in Dr Danielle Meyrick, who stepped into the role of CMO. With more than twenty years’ experience including roles at GenesisCare to Telix Pharmaceuticals, Dr Meyrick joins a team dedicated to radiopharmaceuticals.
MaaT Pharma, a French biotech developing therapies for cancer survivorship through microbiome ecosystem therapies, announced that Dr Gianfranco Pittari will be leading their medical efforts as CMO. His rich background in drug development includes stints at Cellgene and Autolus.
Finally, ActymTx appointed Mary J. Janetpour to the post of chief scientific officer. Bringing 25 years’ worth of oncology value-building experience, Janetpour joins a Berkeley, California biotech developing a new drug modality for treating solid tumours.

A few new VPs. Almost all the hires that reached our inbox in this space in May and June were either C-level or Board appointments (that round-up’s coming up), but there were a small handful of VP hires as well.

Matthew Edwards has been appointed as the senior vice president of discovery sciences at Engitix. With a career that includes work at Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, and GSK, and the development of six clinically-enabled novel therapeutics, Edwards brings a wealth of experience to this London-based early-stage biotech focusing on fibrosis and solid tumours. Engetix also tapped Emma Huang as vice president of data sciences. Huang previously served as head of data sciences for interventional oncology at Johnson & Johnson.
Dr Anita Scheuber stepped into the role of SVP and therapeutic area head of oncology at Nimbus Therapeutics. With a rich background that includes leading research at Trillium Therapeutics and roles at Pfizer and GSK, Dr Scheuber joins the Boston-based biotech known for its computational drug discovery methods.
ActymTx welcomed Dr Shouryadeep “Deep” Srivastava as their new SVP clinical development. Dr Srivastava’s impressive track record includes drug development stints at Theseus Pharmaceuticals, iTeos Therapeutics, and Takeda.

On the Board. As usual, we end our round-up with Board appointments, and there were quite a few!

Moncef Slaoui, known for his role as chief scientific advisor on Operation Warp Speed, joins the Board of Directors at Arcturus Therapeutics, a San Diego biotech focused on mRNA medicines for infectious and rare diseases.
Dr William Pao, former chief development officer at Pfizer known for his seminal research in translational medicine and targeted cancer therapies, joins the Board of Directors at Obsidian Therapeutics, a Cambridge, MA cell and gene therapy company.
Berlin Cures, a German biotech exploring functional autoantibodies in cardiovascular disease and long COVID, added Craig T. Basson, Gerrard Terlouw, and Oliver von Stein to its Board of Directors. Each brings unique expertise to the table, with Basson being a physician-scientist with 25 years of experience in cardiovascular medicine, Terlouw an experienced business development executive, and von Stein currently serving as CEO at Berlin Cures.
Genenta, a clinical stage 5mmune-oncology biotech working on stem cell therapy, expanded its Board of Directors with the addition of John L. Cantello, Lauren H. Chung, Armon R. Sharei, and Dr Todd Wider. These new board members bring a variety of expertise in drug development, financing, clinical practice, and entrepreneurship.
Dr Jeanne Bolger took the helm as Board Chair at Sapreme, a Dutch biotech working on next-generation RNA therapeutics. Bolger brings a decade of experience from leading Johnson & Johnson’s internal investment team.
Anocca, a Swedish TCR-T cell therapy company, welcomed Christiane Hanke-Harloff to its Board of Directors. Hanke-Harloff, a former Gilead Sciences executive, serves on several biopharma boards.
BPGBio, a Boston AI-powered, clinical stage biopharma focused on mitochondrial biology and protein homeostasis, appointed experienced biotech CEO and investor Scott Minick to its Board of Directors.
Coherus BioSciences, a California biotech working on new immunotherapies for cancer, welcomed Rita Karachun to its Board of Directors. Karachun, a former global controller for Merck & Co, brings a 40-year career in finance to the table.
Glen Clova Scientific, a UK-based biopharma company working on biologics for inflammatory and autoimmune disease, added Daniel Galbraith and David Lawrence to its Board of Directors. Galbraith brings 25 years of contract research experience, including stints at Merck and Solvias, while Lawrence’s decades of experience are in financing and building businesses.
HUTCHMED, a biopharma focused on targeted therapies and immunotherapies with offices in Hong Kong and New Jersey, welcomed Dr Renu Bhatia to its Board of Directors. Bhatia is the chairman and co-founder of Opharmic Technology (HK) Ltd, a company focusing on the development of ultrasound technology for non-invasive drug delivery to the eyes.
Avacta Group made two changes to the board in short order, with Shaun Chilton, who led Clinigen as CEO through its £1.3 billion acquisition by Triton Partners, in as chair and Darlene Deptula-Hicks bringing extensive background as a board member and executive at various life sciences companies.
Epsilogen, a London-based biotech developing immunoglobulin E antibodies to treat cancer, welcomed Dr Peter Finan as non-executive chair. Finan, who has a long career in drug development, including a significant stint at Novartis, replaced Dr David Chiswell, who stepped down for personal reasons.
Enterprise Therapeutics appointed Dr Janet Hammond as non-executive director. Hammond is the chief development officer at Atea Pharmaceuticals, with experience at AbbVie and Hoffman-la Roche.
Allergy Therapeutics, a UK-based biotech focused on treatment and diagnosis of allergic disorders, welcomed David Ball, a chartered accountant with more than 25 years of experience in financial markets, to its Board of Directors.
Exonate, a UK biotech developing novel, non-invasive, small-molecule therapeutics for patients with retinal vascular diseases, appointed Dr Rafiq Hasan as non-executive director. Hasan is the CEO of Complement Therapeutics and previously led ophthalmology at Bayer.

Under advisement. Finally, we saw a few moves on advisory boards as well:

Adrian Ray and Scott Turner joined Engitix as scientific advisors. Ray brings 20 years of biotech experience, including stints at Gilead, Nimbus, Morphic, and Third Harmonic Bio. Turner, on the other hand, is the chief scientific officer at Arda Therapeutics and a former CSO at Pliant Therapeutics.
Harness Therapeutics, a UK biotech working on neurodegenerative disease via protein upregulation, established a new Scientific Advisory Board. The board includes Dr Irina Antonijevic, CMO at EveryONE Medicines; Professor Roger Barker from the University of Cambridge; Prof Jim Gusella from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard; Prof Jeff Long from the University of Iowa; independent consultants Dr Eric Marcusson and Dr Jennifer Sims; Dr Tom Massey from the University of Cardiff; and Dr Ralf Reilmann from the George Huntington Institute.
Tessellate BIO, a preclinical Amsterdam and London-based biotech working on novel synthetic lethality approaches, welcomed Sandra Strauss to its Scientific Advisory Board. Strauss is a professor of Medical and Teenage Young Adult Cancer at University College London.
Dr Alan Sandler joins the Scientific Advisory Board of TOLREMO, a Basel, Switzerland biotech focused on preventing non-genetic cancer drug resistance. Sandler brings extensive experience with KRAS inhibitors and was most recently the chief medical officer at Mirati Therapeutics, part of Bristol Myers Squibb.
Nouscom, a Basel, Switzerland biotech working on off-the-shelf and personalised cancer vaccines, secured Dr Neil Gallagher as an Independent Advisor. Gallagher is the current President of R&D at Syndax Pharmaceuticals, with past experience at Abbvie, Amgen, Novartis, and AstraZeneca.

That’s it for this super-sized edition of Changing Faces. 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.