(Image: Getty/Jongho Shin)
As we move closer to the end of the year, companies are assembling their boardrooms for the new year.
Gilead has revealed who will take up the mantle of CEO at the company while some smaller biotechs have made some big name appointments to bolster their executive boards. One privately held biotech has secured the services of Facebook’s CFO to steer the company in its aim to combat ageing.
Gilead revealed that Daniel O’Day shall replace outgoing CEO, John Milligan, and will begin his new role on March 1, 2019.
O’Day joins Gilead after spending the duration of his professional career at Roche, where he started in commercial roles before working his way up to become CEO of Roche Pharmaceuticals over the course of three decades with the company.
Whilst in the role, he oversaw the commercialisation of Ocrevus (ocrelizumab), a treatment for multiple sclerosis, which became a blockbuster drug for the company just over a year after it launched.
With Gilead looking to roll out its CAR-T treatments across major markets, O’Day’s experience at successfully launching new products will be a bonus to the company.
John Martin, chairman of Gilead, said: “He is uniquely qualified to take on this role given his track record of success in highly scientific and competitive therapeutic areas, deep understanding of the evolving healthcare environment around the world, and unwavering commitment to driving innovation across all aspects of a business, which will serve Gilead and our stakeholders well.”
Martin, himself, will be departing the company on the day that O’Day joins, marking a significant shift in the leadership of the company. Together, Martin and Milligan have led Gilead for the last twenty years.
“I have long admired Gilead for its work to develop medicines that have fundamentally changed the way HIV and viral hepatitis are treated. The company has successfully grown into a global organisation, providing access to people around the world, while maintaining its focus on innovative science,” said O’Day on his new role.
Axovant announced that it would be appointing no fewer than five new members of staff to its leadership team.
- Greg MacMichael (pictured), formerly global head of cell and gene therapy technical development and manufacturing at Novartis, joins as SVP of technical operations
- Parag Meswani, formerly head of US marketing and diagnostics at Spark Therapeutics, joins as SVP of commercial strategy and operations
- Paul Korner, formerly VP of medical strategy and clinical development at Sarepta Therapeutics, joins as SVP of clinical development
- Greg Stewart, formerly VP of drug delivery at Voyager Therapeutics, joins Axovant as SVP of vector delivery and optimization
- Sean O’Bryan, formerly VP of regulatory affairs at Lysogene, joins as VP of regulatory affairs
The host of new hires comes as Axovant pivots away from developing treatment for Alzheimer’s disease and instead focuses its efforts on gene therapies, particularly within neurological and neuromuscular diseases.
In a statement, the company emphasised that the appointments will boost its capabilities within gene therapy manufacturing and vector optimisation. Greg MacMichael will hold the responsibility for overseeing the manufacturing of Axovant’s pipeline.
Pavan Cheruvu, CEO of Axovant, said of the appointments: “Together, they bring decades of experience in gene and cell therapies, which will further strengthen our ability to quickly and effectively deliver on our potentially best-in-class gene therapy pipeline.”
Privately held biotech, Alector, has revealed a number of additions to its board of directors, with some impressive credentials behind them. The three new board members are David Wehner (pictured), CFO of Facebook, Richard Scheller, CSO of 23andMe, and Louis Lavigne, CFO of Genentech.
“David, Richard and Lou bring extensive technical and operational expertise to our team, as we continue our progress towards becoming a fully integrated biotechnology company,” said Arnon Rosenthal, CEO of Alector.
The San Francisco based biotech is working on preventing ‘diseases of ageing’ by finding the genetic causes of disease and harnessing the immune system to prevent degeneration of certain conditions. In particular, the firm recently initiated a Phase I trial for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.
Alan Westwood has joined Matoke Holdings as the managing director of its pharmaceutical division, after spending 35 years at Bayer Health Care.
Westwood ended his time at Bayer as VP of global strategic marketing for anti-infectives. In his new role, he will be tasked with overseeing R&D of Matoke Pharma’s lead candidate, RO-101.
The biotech is looking to use its ‘reactive oxygen’ technology to create novel antimicrobial drug candidates. Its lead candidate uses synthetic biology to deliver reactive oxygen to chronic non-healing wounds, such as those involving multi-drug resistant pathogens.
Westwood said, “I’m delighted to take up the role of managing director of Matoke Pharma at this exciting time as it moves closer to achieving its ambition to bring a breakthrough antimicrobial medicinal product to market.”
Chris Chen, CEO of WuXi Biologics, becomes the first board member of the International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering (IPSE) from Asia. He will serve a two-year term on the board of the not-for-profit association that holds a membership of 18,500.
The aim of the association is to provide an environment for members to engage in dialogue on process technologies and technical solutions, as well as the regulatory issues the industry faces.
“ISPE strives to improve manufacturing of quality medicines for global patients. I'm honoured and proud to be part of ISPE's board to engage in the governance and strategic direction of the society, which is a great opportunity for me personally as well as WuXi Biologics,” said Chris Chen.
