As the industry shifts gears to combat the novel coronavirus, a number of leadership changes have taken place.
Some of the organizations that have found new CEOs were entirely expected, having been on the look out for a number of months.
However, with COVID-19, there have been quick transitions at the head of BARDA, as well as the former CEO of GSK called into action by the WHO.
Click through the slideshow to find out more.
As the industry shifts gears to combat the novel coronavirus, a number of leadership changes have taken place.
Some of the organizations that have found new CEOs were entirely expected, having been on the look out for a number of months.
However, with COVID-19, there have been quick transitions at the head of BARDA, as well as the former CEO of GSK called into action by the WHO.
Click through the slideshow to find out more.
Immunomedics appointed Harout Semerjian as CEO at the beginning of April, ahead of a busy period for the company – as it navigates the launch of its lead product, Trodelvy (sacituzumab govitecan).
Semerjian officially took on the position of CEO and executive chairman on April 16, joining the company from Ipsen, where he had acted as chief commercial officer. Prior to his time at Ipsen, he had a 13-year career at Novartis, spanning various roles and ending his time at the Swiss giant as head of the company’s hematology business.
Trodelvy was granted accelerated approval by the US Food and Drug Administration a week after Semerjian entered the role and Immunomedics then announced that it would launch a public offering, seeking to raise $350m (€322m) to fund the launch of the product and to scale up manufacturing.
“I am honored and excited to be joining Immunomedics at this critical time. The company has a unique antibody-drug conjugate platform and I share the board’s belief that sacituzumab govitecan has the potential to offer cancer patients a viable treatment option, as demonstrated in recent clinical studies in triple-negative breast cancer, urothelial cancer and hormone-receptor positive/HER2-negative breast cancer,” said Semerjian.
Silverback Therapeutics has revealed that Laura Shawver, fresh from taking Synthorx through a $2.5bn acquisition by Sanofi, will take the reins at the company.
Shawver arrives with plenty of experience leading similar sized biotech, after having previously held the role of CEO at Cleave Biosciences and Phenomix Corporation.
Silverback is working on immunotherapies within oncology, fibrosis and virology, with the biotech expected to enter clinical trials with its lead immuno-oncology candidate, SBT6050, in the second half of 2020.
Shawver said, “Marrying the curative potential of IO treatment with the precision of targeted drugs is a major advancement. I look forward to marshalling the necessary resources to maximize the value of the ImmunoTAC platform for all the stakeholders.”
Anika Therapeutics recruits from within to promote Cheryl Blanchard from a position on the board to take on the full-time role of CEO, after she had held the role on an interim basis from February of this year.
The role will not be the first leadership position Blanchard has taken, previously she worked as CEO of Microchips Biotech and CSO of Zimmer Biomet.
In addition, the area of regenerative medicine within which Anika operates will be a familiar one, as Blanchard had created a regenerative medicine and medical device practice at Southwest Research Institute.
Blanchard’s primary focus for Anika Therapeutics will be to turn around the biotech’s fortunes, following a turbulent period that saw its lead product, Cingal (triamcinolone hexacetonide), fail to meet its endpoint in a Phase III trial for the treatment of arthritis, and the unfortunate death of its CEO, Joseph Darling, which necessitated the search for a new CEO.
Andrew Witty will co-lead the WHOs plans to facilitate the development of a vaccine for COVID-19, temporarily vacating his position at UnitedHealth.
UnitedHealth Group made the announcement that its current president and CEO of Optum, its pharmacy benefit manager division, Andrew Witty, would take a temporary leave of absence to work with the WHO in countering COVID-19.
Witty will co-lead a global effort by the WHO to aid the development of a vaccine against the novel coronavirus, before returning to continue his role at UnitedHealth by ‘approximately’ the year’s end.
Prior to his role at UnitedHealth, Witty was the CEO of GSK, where he placed an emphasis on the company’s vaccines business, which included overseeing the takeover Novartis’ unit.
Witty began his role May 20, and the following week more details were revealed about the WHO’s plans for speeding the development of vaccines and therapeutics for COVID-19.
Despite playing a pivotal role in the development of treatments, vaccines, and diagnostics against the novel coronavirus, it was announced that Rick Bright had left his leadership position within the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Agency (BARDA).
Bright first joined BARDA in 2010 as the leader of its Influenza and Emerging Infectious Diseases Division before being made director for the agency in 2016. In addition to his position at BARDA, he holds a position as an advisor to the WHO.
Bright will move from his role to a position within the National Institutes of Health (NIH), with his deputy, Gary Disbrow, acting as temporary director for the agency.
In a statement provided to CNN, Bright said that he had been removed and 'involuntarily transferred' to his new position at the NIH.
Further than this, Bright explained, "I believe this transfer was in response to my insistence that the government invest the billions of dollars allocated by Congress to address the COVID-19 pandemic into safe and scientifically vetted solutions, and not in drugs, vaccines and other technologies that lack scientific merit."
