Changing Faces: Pharma and biotech January 2025

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Welcome to the first edition of Changing Faces for 2025. January kicked off the year with a flurry of notable leadership transitions across the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors.

Here is a detailed look at the latest hires and departures.

End of an era at Takeda. After leading Japan's largest drugmaker for 11 years, Christophe Weber announced his planned departure from Takeda in June 2026. Weber, who has steered the pharmaceutical giant through significant transformations, will be succeeded by Julie Kim, who joined Takeda in 2019, marking a carefully orchestrated leadership transition for the company.

Notable departures continue. The industry saw other significant exits, with Richard J Law departing Exscientia (now Recursion) after four years as chief business officer, while Adam Townsend stepped down from his COO position at Apellis to pursue a CEO role at a private biotechnology company. Townsend, who joined Apellis in 2018, played a crucial role in the organisation's transition to a commercial-stage company and built a strong foundation for future growth.

CEO appointments bring fresh leadership. January witnessed a wave of chief executive appointments across the biotechnology and pharmaceutical landscape:

  • Dr Joerg Moeller took the helm at Antag Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapies for obesity and cardiometabolic diseases. Moeller brought extensive experience from Bayer AG's Pharmaceutical Division, where he led global R&D and spearheaded strategic AI collaborations.
  • Dr William S Marshall joined Ribometrix as CEO, following his tenure as president, CEO, co-founder, and director of miRagen, an RNA-based therapeutics company. Previously, he served as vice president of technology and business development for bioscience at Thermo Fisher Scientific.
  • After overseeing an $85 million Series A financing at Ambagon Therapeutics, Scott Clarke stepped in as CEO at CatalYm, a drug development company advancing visugromab, a first-in-class anti-GDF-15 antibody for solid tumours.

Scientific leadership sees major shifts. Several companies strengthened their scientific teams with key CSO appointments:

  • Dr Jacques Dumas joined AiCuris from Arrakis Therapeutics, where he had led R&D activities and managed high-profile collaborations with Roche and Amgen. AiCuris focuses on developing precise therapies for immunocompromised patients requiring effective infection treatments.
  • Dr Margit Janat-Amsbury moved to Halia Therapeutics as CSO after serving as CMO at the same company. Halia is pioneering novel therapeutics for patients with chronic inflammatory disorders and neurodegenerative diseases.
  • Matthew Fyfe took the CSO position at Outrun Therapeutics following his role as senior vice president of therapeutics at Storm Therapeutics. Fyfe brings experience delivering clinical candidates that have reached Phase 2 and beyond in several disease areas.
  • Prof Dr Uli Brödl joined Grünenthal from Boehringer Ingelheim, where he served as corporate senior vice president and head of global clinical development & operations.
  • RNA specialist Dr Katie Warner became CSO at Ribometrix, the company she co-founded. Warner was an early pioneer of RNA SHAPE technologies and demonstrated the first structure-based proof-of-principle that RNA is targetable by fragments.

Medical leadership appointments. Dr Federico Grossi took on the CMO role at UNITY Biotechnology, bringing extensive experience from Apellis Pharmaceuticals. At Apellis, Grossi oversaw clinical strategy and development programmes in ophthalmology, haematology, neurology, and nephrology, leading to the approval and commercial launch of EMPAVELI and SYFOVRE.

Business and commercial leadership expands. Multiple companies bolstered their business and commercial teams with strategic hires:

  • Former chief business officer of Agios Pharmaceuticals, Charlotte Newman, joined Cardurion Pharmaceuticals as CBO. Newman previously held strategic product and portfolio roles at Biogen.
  • After serving as VP global business development at Evotec, Hannah Seitz became CBO at LabGenius, a drug discovery company pioneering machine learning for therapeutic antibody discovery.
  • Jamie Coleman took the chief commercial officer position at Kailera Therapeutics after holding key roles at Eli Lilly, most recently serving as vice president, US brand leader for Zepbound.
  • Dan Monahan joined Amylyx Pharmaceuticals as CCO from Otsuka Pharmaceuticals, where he led the US commercialisation efforts for the company's CNS franchise, including REXULTI and ABILIFY MAINTENA.
  • Following a successful tenure at Astrea Bioseparations, Gabe Longoria moved to 4basebio as CCO. 4basebio develops and commercialises large-scale manufacture of synthetic DNA and nanoparticle delivery solutions.

Vice president and senior leadership roles filled. Several companies strengthened their leadership teams with strategic vice president appointments:

  • Giancarlo Benelli became senior VP and head of Europe at BeiGene after serving as general manager at Advanced Accelerators Applications, where he successfully launched Lutathera in both France and Italy.
  • Halia Therapeutics made two key appointments with Tracey Clayton joining as VP of program mnagement & clinical operations from Sumitomo Pharma America, and Stephen Anthony taking the senior VP of clinical development role.
  • Sciensus welcomed Alastair MacDonald as VP of medical affairs after 20 years at AstraZeneca and Syneos Health, while Dr Raymond A. Huml joined as VP of rare & orphan disease strategy, with over 25 years of industry experience.
  • James Christensen moved to Terremoto Biosciences as president and head of R&D after serving as chief scientific officer at Mirati, where he oversaw drug discovery, early clinical development, manufacturing, and companion diagnostics.
  • With 25 years of experience in healthcare, Faruk Uzman took on an expanded role at Boston Scientific as vice president for healthcare solutions & partnerships and remote sales for Europe, Middle East, and Africa.

Financial leadership strengthened. Juan Graham joined Perspective Therapeutics as CFO after serving at FibroGen, a global emerging growth biopharmaceutical company. Meanwhile, David Schilansky, who previously co-headed DBV Technologies and led two IPOs on Euronext and Nasdaq with more than one billion US dollars raised, became CFO at Ariceum Therapeutics.

Technology and operations see new faces. Wafaa Mamilli joined Roche as chief digital technology officer after holding the role of chief digital & technology officer at Zoetis. And Dr Michael Ringel took the COO position at Life Biosciences, moving from Boston Consulting Group where he served as managing director and senior partner advising biotech and pharmaceutical clients.

Additional appointments round out the month. Rachel Kalmar joined Moderna as principal product manager from Biogen, and Kristin Politi moved to BMS as associate director of strategy & media relations after serving as VP of media relations at LifeSci Communications.

That's it for this month's 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.