The numbers of high profile executives departing large pharma companies this month again emphasised the draw of working in the biotech industry.
Only shortly after pulling off a major coup by appointing a new head of oncology, Novartis was dealt a blow as they left for pastures new.
Fellow Swiss company, Roche, also had departures from within its ranks one of which was to help lead a newly acquired company.
The steady stream of executives departing large pharma companies became a torrent this month, with a number of high profile departures to take up CEO positions.
Only shortly after pulling off a major coup by appointing a new head of oncology, Novartis was dealt a blow as they left for pastures new.
Fellow Swiss company, Roche, also had departures from within its ranks one of which was to help lead a newly acquired company.
Just 11 months into her high profile appointment as CEO of Novartis Oncology, Liz Barrett opted to take on the role of CEO at UroGen Pharma.
The jump to work at a small biotech represents a major change of pace for Barrett. Previous to her role at Novartis, she built her reputation working at Johnson & Johnson, as VP of its oncology franchise, for 13 years, before working at Pfizer for close to nine years.
At Pfizer, she became global president and global manager of oncology before Novartis brought her on board to lead its own oncology business.
“I’ve built a career with some of the best companies in the industry and have had the opportunity to be entrepreneurial within each of those positions. This is an opportune time to take that experience and apply it to a smaller biotech company on the cusp of transformation,” said Barrett.
Joining UroGen will see Barrett take the opportunity to work outside of the large pharma companies’ framework and she will be tasked with bringing through the biotech’s clinical stage pipeline to the market.
UroGen announced that it expects the rolling new drug application submission to the US Food and Drug Administration for its lead candidate, UGN-101, to be completed in mid-2019. UGN-10 is designed to remove tumours by non-surgical means to treat several forms of non-muscle invasive urothelial cancer.
In a similar move to Barrett, Bahija Jallal moved from AstraZeneca to Immunocore, taking on the CEO position at the biotech.
Jallal had been president of MedImmune, AstraZeneca’s research arm, for six years, after having worked her way up from SVP of research at the company. Prior to this position, she had worked at Chiron and Sugen in research positions.
During her time at MedImmune, Jallal oversaw the development of Imfinzi (durvalumab), Fasenra (benralizumab) and Siliq (brodalumab). MedImmune also vastly expanded its pipeline of assets, with 130 molecules in development compared to a number of 40 when she started her role.
Immunocore’s lead program is IMCgp100, a potential treatment for metastatic uveal melanoma that is currently in clinical trials. The company is specialising in developing T cell receptor treatments for use within oncology, but also has programs in infectious and autoimmune diseases.
Jallal said of her appointment: “With its strong platform, with potential to be applicable in multiple therapy areas, Immunocore has successfully translated its innovative science into the clinic with ongoing pivotal trials in uveal melanoma and clinical and pre-clinical stage programs in other disease areas. I am looking forward to helping the company, and its talented employees, bring innovative T cell receptor-based medicines to patients.”
Two Roche veterans moved onto new pastures this month, but both were in different circumstances: Cindy Perettie (left) becomes CEO of Foundation Medicine, which Roche recently bought out for $2.4bn (€2.1bn), while Pearl Huang (right) leaves the company entirely to become CEO at Cygnal Therapeutics.
Huang joins a very early-stage biotech, one that was only founded in 2017. She will enter this position from her previous role as head of therapeutic modalities at Roche – a role she held for close to four years. She will be able to draw on experience working at GSK, at Beigene Bio, which she founded, and at MSD.
“Cygnal has uncovered what promises to be a new hallmark of cancer and immunological control and is arguably the first biotechnology company broadly tackling this space,” said Avak Kahvejian, founding CEO of Cygnal and partner at Flagship Pioneering.
He continued, “With Pearl on board, Cygnal is now poised to exploit its knowledge of this new biology through the design, manufacture, testing, and distribution of multiple novel candidate therapeutics.”
While Cindy Perettie leaves her position as Roche’s SVP of global product strategy in oncology to take the reins at Foundation Medicine. The company was founded to profile patient genomes to provide patient-specific treatments. The work at Foundation Medicine is able to identify therapies that directly target the molecular alterations that occur in a patient’s cancer.
Troy Cox will step down as CEO of the company to make way for Perettie. He will transition out of the role in the capacity as an advisor to her. He said, “I look forward to collaborating with her and the senior management team in transitioning the chief executive officer role, as we together work toward supporting the company’s mission. My time at Foundation Medicine has been one of the most rewarding of my career.”
Astellas has announced one new hire and three senior-level promotions to its organisation. Juan Maya (pictured) joins Astellas from Indiana University, where he was an assistant clinical professor of medicine, and becomes vice president of medical science.
The three promotions see Erkut Bahceci become VP of medical science for haematology, Leticia Delgado-Herrera become VP of Rx+ M&D head, and Wendi Lau become VP of operational improvement and reporting excellence.
“I am thrilled that Erkut, Leticia, and Wendi were promoted and that Juan joined Astellas. Each one of these key leadership positions has a vital role in the success of the M&D organization,” said Bernhardt Zeiher, CMO of Astellas.
Nicola Redfern has been promoted from within bluebird bio to become general manager for the company’s UK organisation. Redfern joined bluebird as director of access and value evidence strategy for the UK in 2017.
Before joining bluebird, Redfern had acquired experience at large pharma companies, having previously worked for MSD (known as Merck in North America), Pierre Fabre, Sanofi, Novartis, Celgene and Baxalta, before beginning at bluebird.
Redfern worked at Celgene for close to four years as its director of market access for the UK before then moving onto Baxalta as director of oncology patient access in the UK. After the latter company merged with Shire, she joined bluebird bio.
Andrew Obenshain, bluebird bio’s head of Europe, commented: “Nicola’s new role, which coincides with the opening of our new office in Basingstoke, is part of our wider strategy to expand our European leadership team as we prepare to launch our gene therapies and transition to a fully integrated discovery, development and commercial company.”
