As the stream of executives flowing from large pharma companies to smaller biotechs builds into torrent, another month has passed with a number of significant switches. Notably, two former Genentech employees, responsible for work on some of its bestselling products, have made the move to become executives at a very early stage biotech that has only just completed a Series B financing.
In addition, Jacquelyn (“Jackie”) Fouse, a name with a strong reputation in the biotech industry, has secured a CEO position at a fast-growing biotech company, which has already seen two drug launches in recent years.
As the stream of executives flowing from large pharma companies to smaller biotechs builds into torrent, another month has passed with a number of significant switches. Notably, two former Genentech employees, responsible for work on some of its bestselling products, have made the move to become executives at a very early stage biotech that has only just completed a Series B financing.
In addition, Jacquelyn (“Jackie”) Fouse, a name with a strong reputation in the biotech industry, has secured a CEO position at a fast-growing biotech company, which has already seen two drug launches in recent years.
OxStem Limited, an Oxford-based biotech company focused on combatting age-related diseases, has revealed that its new chief scientific officer has been appointed, with Georg Terstappen stepping into the role.
Terstappen has 25 years’ of experience working in the pharmaceutical industry, most recently being located in Shanghai, China, as GlaxoSmithKline’s head of platform technologies and science in the country.
This stint at the company followed a previous five-year period with the company from 1997 to 2002, when he worked as director of systems research. Alongside this experience, he had periods working for AbbVie and Bayer.
Michael Stein, chairman and CEO of OxStem, commented: “On behalf of the entire company, I warmly welcome Georg to OxStem and we are thrilled to have attracted such an accomplished Drug Hunter to the OxStem Team. Georg brings extensive R&D management experience to OxStem and his track record of delivery in both pharma and biotech is well-evidenced. He joins OxStem at a time of significant growth and acceleration in our discovery programmes and we look forward to working with Georg on our important mission to deliver innovative medicines based on the translation of our breakthrough science.”
Teva has placed John Nason in charge of the production of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and biologics, in the position of president of Teva Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients. The move for Nason represents a promotion from within the company, as he moves on from his previous role as SVP of European technical operations that he had performed at Teva over the previous three and a half years.
Having responsibility over both small and large molecule portfolios will not be a new experience for Nason, who previously worked at Bristol-Myers Squibb as vice president of external manufacturing and alliance management. In this position, he was leader for BMS global contract manufacturing organisations (CMOs) that produced both small and large molecule medicines.
“John’s deep technical expertise and strong track record distinguish him as a global leader who is exceptionally qualified for this pivotal role,” said Carlo de Notaristefani, EVP of Teva Global Operations. “I am confident in John’s ability to strengthen and grow these vital business assets for Teva and fully realise their potential to help patients and deliver for our customers around the world.”
Industry veteran, Sanjay Keswani has taken up the position of CEO of Rheos Medicines. The biopharma company is looking to use immune cell metabolism to develop medicines able to treat immune-mediated diseases and cancers.
Keswani joins as CEO after having built up a solid biopharma background that included roles at Roche, BMS, Eli Lilly and Amgen. The most recent role he held was at Roche, where he was SVP and global head of R&D for neuroscience, ophthalmology and rare diseases. Keswani will replace interim CEO, Abbie Celniker.
The main focus of his expertise is within the neurosciences, which he specialised in at BMS, Eli Lilly and Amgen – prior to his work in the pharma industry, he held the position of assistant professor of neurology at Johns Hopkins University.
Keswani said of his new role: “There is an immense opportunity to change the therapeutic paradigm for treating diseases that involve the immune system, and Rheos is ideally positioned to set a new standard by targeting the underlying cellular metabolism of immune cells to treat a wide range of diseases.”
Another company focused on cell metabolism is Agios Pharmaceuticals, which has also moved to appoint a CEO by recruiting Jackie Fouse. The appointment can be regarded as something of a coup for the biotech, with Fouse having once been considered a lead runner to become CEO of one of the biggest biotechs on the block, Celgene.
She had held the positon of chief financial officer at Celgene and was also president of the company’s global haematology and oncology units. Reflecting the market’s view of her potential as CEO for the biotech, shares in the company rose from $81.14 (€69.52) to $83.82 immediately following the announcement of her appointment.
Fouse will replace David Schenkein as CEO, who will move onto the role of executive chairman of the company, after nearly a decade of running the company.
“With the recent approval and launch of our second internally discovered medicine, Agios has demonstrated that it is capable of discovering, developing and commercialising precision medicines. After leading the company for nearly 10 years, the board and I believe now is the right time to begin this transition. Having worked closely with Jackie for several years and as a member of our board, I am confident that she is the right person to build on the strong foundation we’ve established,” said Schenkein.
Immune-Onc Therapeutics has announced the hiring of two executives and securement of Series B funding worth $33m. Both appointments arrive with experience of working at Roche subsidiary, Genentech – Adrian Jubb arrives as chief medical officer, after having previously spent three years as medical director at Genentech, and An Song will move to the company as vice president and head of early development, after over a decade with Genentech.
Immune-Onc is still at the early stages of breaking out as a biotech, and plans to use the money garnered from its financing round to take its translational research into the clinic. As the name suggests, the biotech will focus on developing biologic immunotherapy treatments for cancer.
Charlene Liao, co-founder, president and chief executive officer of Immune-Onc, said: “Adrian and An’s decades of industry expertise in drug development will be critical in advancing our mission to develop novel biotherapeutics for hard-to-treat cancers.”
In particular, Song was noted in the announcement as having contributed to the regulatory approvals of a number of Roche’s commercially successful products, such as Rituxan (rituximab), Avastin (bevacizumab), and Herceptin (trastuzumab).
