Anat Ashkenazi→ It’s been nearly a year since Google’s parent company Alphabet announced that its CFO Ruth Porat would move into the newly created role of president and chief investment officer, leaving behind an opening.
Now, the company has found someone to fill in the gap with Eli Lilly’s finance chief Anat Ashkenazi joining the company effective July 31. Ashkenazi was added to Lilly’s ranks in 2001, and since then has worked in roles ranging from strategy, finance and Six Sigma, culminating in her role as SVP, controller and CFO of Lilly Research Laboratories.
In other news, Lilly has brought on Melissa Seymour as EVP of global quality, taking over for Johna Norton who is heading into retirement after a 34-year run with the company. Seymour will officially join the company July 22 and currently serves as chief quality officer at Bristol Myers Squibb. Seymour also boasts of roles at Biogen, Novo Nordisk and GSK on her business card.
Marie-Louise Fjällskog→ It’s been a rough time for Exscientia, with the company trimming nearly a quarter of its workforce last month, right after a pipeline cut and CEO Andrew Hopkins leaving due to alleged inappropriate employee relations. Hoping to right ship, the AI pioneer is now bringing in some new leaders with John Overington as chief technology officer and Marie-Louise Fjällskog as interim CMO and clinical development lead. Overington began his tenure at Exscientia in 2021 as VP, discovery initiative before being appointed as chief data officer in 2023. His earlier stints include roles at the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI), BenevolentAI, Pfizer and Inpharmatica.
Frank NestleMeanwhile, Fjällskog takes over the interim CMO role from Mike Krams. Not her first time in this role, Fjällskog brings prior experience from her time at Faron Pharmaceuticals, Lytix and Sensei Biotherapeutics. Earlier in her career, Fjällskog held roles at the Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research (NIBR), Merus and Infinity Pharmaceuticals.
→ Earlier this week, Ryan Cross spoke with Frank Nestle on his new role as partner and CEO of Deerfield’s New York City drug incubator. Deerfield poached Nestle from Sanofi, where he was global head of research and CSO, and played a key role in expanding the French drugmaker’s investment in immunology, having served in the role since 2020.
Aaron Berg→ Endpoints also reported Wednesday about Amarin’s new CEO — its third since 2021. The board elected EVP and president of Amarin’s US business Aaron Berg as chief exec, replacing Patrick Holt, who handed in his resignation. Berg jumpstarted his career with Amarin in 2012, having worked his way up to CCO in 2018 and briefly serving as interim CEO last year. Since the departure of John Thero in 2021, Amarin has also seen Karim Mikhail as CEO before he was ousted last year by Alex Denner-led activist investor Sarissa Capital.
→ UroGen Pharma rolled out the welcome mat for David Lin as CCO. Lin joins the Princeton, NJ-based team after his tenure as head of US cell therapy at Bristol Myers. Before that, he was with The Medicines Company and J&J. In his new role, Lin will be working on UroGen’s commercial strategy for its bladder cancer chemo gel UGN-102. The candidate succeeded in two Phase 3 trials last July, with the company anticipating completion of its NDA submission in Q3 of this year.
Margaret Koziel→ While trying to catch up with the FGF21 candidates of Akero and 89bio in the MASH space, Boston Pharmaceuticals has locked in Margaret Koziel as CMO, replacing Juan Carlos Lopez-Talavera, who was serving in the interim. Not Koziel’s first rodeo as CMO, she served in the role at Innoviva Specialty Therapeutics and Axcella Therapeutics. Koziel’s résumé also boasts of roles at Kaleido Biosciences, Vertex and the Novartis Institute for Biomedical Sciences. Boston has been focusing on its MASH injection BOS-580, which revealed new Phase 2a data at this week’s EASL Congress.
Phillip Dennis→ Elsewhere, I-Mab has also picked up a CMO in the likes of Phillip Dennis. Dennis joins the US-based team from Sanofi, where he was VP of lung cancer strategy and global project head for a first-in-class ADC. Before that, Dennis was VP of lung cancer strategy and global clinical lead at AstraZeneca, helping with development of Imfinzi. I-Mab has seen a lot of change in its exec team ever since it announced the splitting of its US and China businesses, with founder Jingwu Zang now running its China operations. Here’s a refresher on each exec that’s left since the announcement in February: CFO Richard Yeh and R&D chief Andrew Zhu, Chief Business Officer Weimin Tang, Chief Communications Officer Gigi Qi Feng and Chief Legal Officer Richard Cheng Li.
Graham Parry→ Electra Therapeutics has brought in a new exec and promoted another. First, Graham Parry joins Electra as CSO. Parry previously served as EVP of translational sciences at Star Therapeutics, which spun out of Electra, and SVP of traditional sciences at Third Harmonic Bio. Meanwhile, Kim-Hien Dao goes from VP, head of clinical development to CMO. Dao was executive medical director at Astex Pharmaceuticals and had an 11-year tenure at Oregon Health and Science University. If you remember, both appointments come after Electra’s leadership change last December as Kathy Dong took over the reins from co-founder Adam Rosenthal.
→ Tim Springer’s Tectonic Therapeutic, which took the reverse merger path onto the Nasdaq early this year, is changing up the guard with the recruitment of Daniel Lochner as finance chief to replace exiting COO and CFO Christian Cortis, who is pursuing other opportunities. Lochner brings experience from his roles as CBO and CFO of Viatris‘ eye care division and at Oyster Point Pharma. Earlier in his career, Lochner was with Goldman Sachs. Tectonic, led by Alise Reicin, will complete its reverse merger with Avrobio later this month as it works to go head-to-head with under-the-skin relaxin programs from AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly.
Josep Catllà→ Late last month, Ipsen’s effort to slow down generic competition for its blockbuster drug Somatuline ended in rejection from the FDA. Now the company has plucked up Josep Catllà as EVP, chief corporate affairs officer. For the past four years, Catllà has been head of corporate affairs and running communications and public affairs at Sanofi. In addition to Catllà’s appointment, Ipsen has announced the departure of its EVP, communications, external affairs & sustainability of three years Gwenan White, who is pursuing other opportunities.
John Healy→ San Diego biotech Contineum Therapeutics, which went public in April with $110 million, has named John Healy as general counsel & corporate secretary. Healy hops aboard from Tyra Biosciences, where he served in the same role and helped oversee the company’s IPO in late 2021. Healy also brings with him experience from his decade-long stint as a legal consultant. Contineum is currently developing its drug PIPE-307 in partnership with J&J, with the drugmaker planning to test the candidate in patients with depression later this year.
→ Y-mabs has enlisted Norman LaFrance as chief development officer. LaFrance joins the team in New York from PLUS Therapeutics, where he was SVP and CMO. And that certainly wasn’t his first stint as CMO, having served in the role at Jubilant Pharma and Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals as well. LaFrance’s appointment also comes after Y-mabs cut 35% of its staff last January to keep the lights on til the first quarter of 2026 as it pushes the development and commercialization of its lone approved product, Danyelza.
Georgette Verdin→ Bitterroot Bio, which boasts of Stanford professor of cardiovascular medicine Nick Leeper and stem cell pioneer Irv Weissman as its co-founders, has recruited two new execs: Georgette Verdin as chief people officer and Sherwin Chen as chief legal officer and corporate secretary. Verdin joins the team with experience under her belt from Mariana Oncology (chief people officer), Avrobio (chief human resources officer), Novartis Institutes of Biomedical Research and Biogen. Meanwhile, Chen served in the same legal officer role at AllStripes Research, general counsel at Color Health and had stints on the legal teams of Roche and FibroGen. Bitterroot is working on targeting CD47, the same “don’t eat me” signal as Forty Seven and Gilead’s magrolimab.
→ After starting the year with a forecast of a slow 2024, Danaher has now named Martin Stumpe as chief data and artificial intelligence officer. Stumpe joins the team after his role as chief of AI at Tempus Labs. Before that, he had a six-year stint at Google, culminating in his role as head of pathology team, Google Brain. In an investor call in January, Danaher CEO Rainer Blair said that 2024 revenue is expected to decline to “high-single digits” in the first quarter and “low-single digits” for the rest of the year.
David Sutherland→ Along with moving its headquarters from Dublin to Boston’s Seaport district this week to grow its presence in the US, Carrick Therapeutics has brought in David Sutherland as VP of finance and controller. Sutherland most recently served as VP, finance and operations at Catamaran Bio and held gigs at Akebia Therapeutics and Keryx Biopharmaceuticals. Carrick has been focused on its lead breast cancer drug samuraciclib, which is being tested for advanced breast cancer in collaboration with Pfizer.
→ Organon India, part of Merck women’s health spinout Organon, has tapped Vivek Soares to the role of country lead for India and South Asia to replace Anjan Sen, who is heading into retirement. Soares was moved into his current role after serving as Organon India’s head, strategic partnerships & business development. Earlier in his career, Soares was with MSD, culminating in his role as alliance management & women’s health lead.
William Pao→ Pfizer’s former development chief, William Pao is now pulling out a seat at the board table of Obsidian Therapeutics. Pao had only been with Pfizer for 16 months before parting ways with the company as it pivoted its focus to a broader role in oncology. Pao had been poached to Pfizer from Roche, where he was head of the company’s research & early development unit. He now joins Obsidian after the company picked up $160.5 million in April to push its tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) program further in studies in both melanoma and non-small cell lung cancer.
→ Following a 30% staff reduction outlined in March after the sale of its biosimilar Cimerli to Sandoz, Coherus BioSciences has welcomed Rita Karachun to its board of directors. Karachun had a more than 17-year run at Merck, most recently serving as SVP and global controller. Before that, Karachun spent 16 years at AT&T.