As we enter spring, several companies have refreshed the look of their executive boards – some to strengthen their direction and some out of necessity.
Leadership of a company can be a powerful signal of intent for companies, as two people found out this month – with one exiting, after manufacturing woes resulted in US Food and Drug Administration action, and one joining to lead a newly spunout, oncology-focused biotech from one of the largest companies in the industry.
As we enter spring, several companies have refreshed the look of their executive boards – some to strengthen their direction and some out of necessity.
Leadership of a company can be a powerful signal of intent for companies, as two people found out this month – with one exiting, after manufacturing woes resulted in US Food and Drug Administration action, and one joining to lead a newly spunout, oncology-focused biotech from one of the largest companies in the industry.
After a turbulent period and looking to strengthen its leadership, Immunomedics appointed Barbara Duncan to its board of directors and chairperson of the audit committee.
Alongside her place at Immunomedics, Duncan will balance the role alongside her position as board member of five companies, holding roles at ObsEva, Aevi Genomic Medicine, Adaptimmune Therapeutics, Jounce Therapeutics, and Ovid Therapeutics.
The appointment arrived two weeks after the biotech’s CEO, Michael Pehl, stepped down from his position at the company.
Alongside the announcement of the departure of its CEO, the company also acknowledged it had received a complete response letter (CRL) from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to its biologics license application for sacituzumab govitecan. The manufacturing issues were revealed to be related to data integrity breaches in the FDA’s inspection report.
Pehl had only been in the position of CEO for 15 months at the time of his leaving, which arrived a few weeks after the FDA’s inspection was made public.
At the same time as announcing Pehl’s departure, the company also announced that Scott Canute had joined the company’s board as executive director – highlighting his experience as president of global manufacturing and corporate operations at Genzyme.
Immunomedics has not yet announced a replacement for Pehl.
Gilead’s head of oncology has moved on from his position to take the lead of a newly spun out, but as yet unnamed, biotech business from Glenmark Pharmaceuticals. The ‘innovation company’ currently holds eight new chemical entities and biological entities in its portfolio, with three of these being at Phase II stage.
As CEO of the spun out company, Riva will be tasked with bringing through the assets to commercialisation, with the company having a focus on oncology – an area of specialty for Riva. During his career, Riva worked as head of oncology at Gilead for over two years and held the same role at Novartis for 12 years.
Glenn Saldanha, chairman and MD of Glenmark, “[Riva’s] extensive and diverse industry experience leading global R&D will no doubt be invaluable in driving our pipeline towards commercialisation. We are excited for this major step as a company and are confident Alessandro's talent and leadership will shape the innovation business into a major global biotech company.”
The new company begins life with two R&D centres located in Switzerland and India, as well as a biologics manufacturing facility in Switzerland. The company will also have 400 employees.
Artios Pharma has appointed Ian Smith as chief medical officer overseeing the company’s preclinical and clinical development strategy, regulatory, and medical activities.
The company focuses on DNA damage response (DDR) and is currently developing a pipeline of oncology treatments.
Smith will join Artios from Eli Lilly, where he previously served as a senior medical director. Prior to his work at Eli Lilly, Smith worked at AstraZeneca for eight years advancing early clinical development for oncology compounds. Smith also was responsible for the development of lead oncology drugs within the Global Medicines Development Division at AZ.
Niall Martin, CEO at Artios, commented on Smith’s appointment saying, “[He] brings a wealth of experience in advancing oncology compounds from early to late-stage clinical development and through to market. With his expertise and the guidance we will receive from our newly formed Clinical Advisory Board, Artios is in a strong position to accelerate the development of its pipeline of highly promising first-in-class DDR therapies.”
European biotech F2G, focusing on the development of treatments for life-threatening fungal infections, appointed Patrick Vink as chairman of the board of directors.
Vink has been a member of the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry for over 30 years, including experience as COO at Cubist Pharmaceuticals, which was acquired by Merck. Prior to his role at Cubist, Vink served as head of global hospital business at Mylan, and head of global biopharmaceuticals at Sandoz.
“During his career, he has been responsible for several successful new product launches and held senior roles overseeing R&D and commercial and technical operations,” Ian Nicholson, CEO of F2G said. “His breadth and depth of experience will be invaluable as we accelerate the development of our lead candidate olorofim as a treatment for rare invasive fungal infections.”
Currently, Vink is on the board of various US and European companies including Acacia Pharma, Targovax, and NMD Pharma.
Crescendo Biologics, a biotech based in Cambridge, UK, has promoted Theodora Harold to the position of CEO, previously she held the position of CFO. The move was made due to the current CEO, Peter Pack, stepping down from the role – with him due to leave the position on May 1 but remaining as a senior advisor to the company.
Harold has worked at the company since 2016, joining the company as CFO. Prior to Crescendo, she worked at PsiOxus Therapeutics for seven years in the same position.
Kevin Johnson, non-executive chairman of Crescendo Biologics, said, “The decision to appoint Harold to succeed Pack was a straightforward and a unanimous one because of her in-depth knowledge of the business and industry as a whole. She has worked tirelessly to build the business so far and she has exciting ambitions for the company in the longer term.”
Crescendo is developing investigational therapeutics within oncology, particularly focusing on targeted T-cell activation. Its lead candidate is CB307, which is a bispecific PSMA-targeted T-cell engager – according to Harold, the candidate is on track to enter Phase I testing in 2020.
