As we have entered the summer, companies have taken to refreshing their leadership positions, including at companies such as Gilead, Alnylam, and Maze Therapeutics.
Eli Lilly's SVP and Bio-Medicines president, Christi Shaw, takes the lead on Kite, Gilead’s newly independent cell therapy subsidiary.
Following this move, Gilead announced changes to its leadership structure with executives departing, while Eli Lilly appoints Patrik Jonsson, the company’s Japan executive, to replace Shaw as the head of the company’s Bio-Medicines business.
As we have entered the summer, companies have taken to refreshing their leadership positions, including at companies such as Gilead, Alnylam, and Maze Therapeutics.
Eli Lilly SVP and Bio-Medicines president, Christi Shaw, takes the lead on Kite, Gilead’s newly independent cell therapy subsidiary.
Following this move, Gilead announced changes to its leadership structure with executives departing, while Eli Lilly appoints Patrik Jonsson, the company’s Japan executive, to replace Shaw as the head of the company’s Bio-Medicines business.
Christi Shaw, current head of Eli Lilly Bio-Medicines will leave the company at the end of August, to become the new CEO of Kite Pharma, Gilead’s cell therapy subsidiary, which was recently separated to become an independent unit.
Shaw is expected to bring her experience to commercializing Yescarta (axicabtagene ciloleucel), Kite’s approved chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T- cell therapy treatment, and advancing the company’s cancer immunotherapy portfolio.
In a statement, Daniel O’Day, CEO of Gilead, said: “We conducted an extensive search for a new leader at Kite and we believe that Christi’s unique set of skills will allow us to continue to build on our leadership position in cell therapy.”
“Kite’s vision of transformational drug development – and of curing cancer – is one that I am extremely passionate about,” commented Shaw, who will be reporting to O’Day.
Prior to joining Lilly, Christi Shaw spent six years with Novartis, serving as the US head of the company, and as the North American head of Novartis Oncology.
Shaw currently also serves as a board member of Avantor and the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), and as an advisor to the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association.
Patrik Jonsson, Lilly’s Japan executive, will take over Shaw’s role in the company’s leadership.
Shortly after the appointment of Shaw, Gilead announced the departure of its CSO and head of R&D, John McHutchison, stating that it will “immediately commence a search for his successor.”
McHutchison was followed out the door by Gilead’s chief patient officer, Gregg Alton, and Katie Watson, EVP of human resources, who was immediately replaced by the company’s VP of human resources, Jyoti Mehra.
Alnylam announced the resignation of its CFO, Manmeet Soni, and revealed his replacement with Jeff Poulton, the former CFO of rare disease-focused biotech Shire, which Takeda acquired last year for $62bn (€55.28bn).
The RNAi drugmaker stated that Soni has decided to resign to ‘pursue other interests’, and John Maraganore, the company’s CEO, commented on his contributions to Alnylam’s development, “where he led the buildout of our global financial and operational infrastructure and strengthened the company’s balance sheet with over $1.5bn in new equity capital.”
Maraganore added that Poulton, the incoming CFO, “brings a wealth of experience” to Alnylam that is ‘ideal’ for the company’s looks.
Prior to his fifteen-year tenure at Shire, Poulton held financial leadership positions at Cinergy Corp and PPG industries, while he is currently also a member of the board of directors of EIP Pharmaceuticals.
In a statement, Poulton commented on the ‘unmatched’ opportunity to join Alnylam’s leadership in their goals, including the commercial launch of Onpattro (patisiran), an approved treatment for polyneuropathy, the regulatory authorisation of a second investigational RNAi therapeutic and the advancement of several products in Phase III.
Richard Scheller is leaving 23andMe personal genomics company, where he served for four years as the CSO and head of therapeutics.
The executive will become a member of Maze Therapeutics’ board of directors, while he was also appointed as chairman of R&D at Bridge Bio.
Maze CEO, Jason Coloma, commented that Scheller is entering the company with a “distinguished academic career and accomplishments as a drug discovery and development leader.”
On his side, Scheller stated that he is impressed by the science behind Maze, which “brings together a wealth of human genetics insights and an unparalleled knowledge of genomics.”
Prior to his position at 23andMe, Scheller spent 14 years at Genentech, where he was the EVP of research and early development.
Scheller will remain a board member of 23andMe.
In September, Richard Peters, who recently resigned as CEO of Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, will become the CEO of Yumanity Therapeutics, a company focusing on discovering treatments for Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
Industry veteran Peters has previously held leadership positions in companies including Onyx Pharmaceuticals and Amgen, as well as serving as the global head of rare diseases at Genzyme.
Yumanity’s founder and current CEO, Tony Coles, who previously held the role of CEO of Onyx and worked together with Peters at the company, will transition to the role of executive chairperson of the board of directors.
Coles welcomed Peters by stating that he has the skills and background to guide the company’s pipeline through early clinical development “in a way that will set the company up for near-term shareholder value creation and longer-term success.”
“Having worked closely with Richard previously at Onyx Pharmaceuticals, I know we have found the right leader,” he added.
On his side, Peters commented that “having worked with Tony over the years, I am delighted to have this opportunity to collaborate with him,” and added that “neurodegenerative diseases represent the greatest therapeutic challenge of our time.”
Anjana Narain, who has previously held positions in pharmaceutical leaders including GSK, Merck, and Bayer, was appointed by CSL as the EVP and general manager of its Seqirus business.
Narain will fill the position after the retirement of Gordon Naylor, which was announced earlier this year.
CSL CEO, Paul Perreault commented that Narain will bring a ‘diverse, broad-based’ experience to Seqirus, the influenza vaccines business that CSL acquired from Novartis in 2015.
"As a global leader in influenza prevention, Seqirus is well positioned to deliver sustainable growth," commented Narain.
The executive spent nine years leading influenza commercialization business, vaccine and HIV management at GSK, while previously she had held leadership roles in the biopharmaceutical and vaccines business at Merck and Bayer.
