Eisai’s US chair, global Alzheimer’s leader Ivan Cheung to retire weeks after Leqembi approval

Ivan Cheung, the global leader of Eisai’s Alzheimer’s apparatus, will retire at the end of July, the Japanese drugmaker said Tuesday, just four days after the biotech and its partner Biogen secured full approval for Leqembi.

Taking his place is Eisai CEO Haruo Naito’s son Keisuke Naito, who will add the acting global Alzheimer’s post to his existing duties as chief strategy and planning officer and chief ecosystem officer.

Keisuke Naito

Cheung’s role as chair, CEO and president of Eisai’s Americas unit will be taken over by CFO Tatsuyuki Yasuno. The current head of corporate finance, Mitsuru Shomon, will become the new finance chief.

For the past few years, Cheung was the face of Eisai’s Alzheimer’s efforts. Biogen led the playbook on the pair’s first amyloid drug, Aduhelm, which the drugmakers largely pulled back from after a controversial approval, limited insurance coverage and meager sales dogged its commercial launch. They ultimately reworked their partnership, with Eisai ceding control to Biogen and agreeing to take a tiny portion of royalties.

With Leqembi, the duo’s second-generation attempt, Eisai was in the driver’s seat and made the big calls. The antibody cleared the bar in a large Phase III last year, paving the way for an accelerated nod in January and a full approval just last week.

Cheung’s legacy could last a long time at the drugmaker. Eisai and its partners are eyeing regulatory nods in multiple other countries, and it’s working on an under-the-skin version of the IV drug, which is priced at $26,500 in the US. Speaking to Endpoints News ahead of last week’s approval, Cheung said he personally wished the “triumph for the Alzheimer’s disease community” had come “many years earlier.”

Leqembi could eventually reach billions of dollars in sales, analysts predict, and cement Eisai’s place as a leader in Alzheimer’s, a medical field that for decades caused drugmaker after drugmaker to stumble.

“We may not be a high profile type of company,” Cheung told Endpoints in an interview last November, around the big readout of its CLARITY-AD trial results. “We tend to stay grounded and humble, but we believe in building trust in doing our hard work to help patients, through science.”

Jefferies analyst Stephen Barker noted that Cheung is the son-in-law of Eisai CEO Naito. Eisai’s shares dropped about 4% on Tuesday after the “sudden retirement,” which may have “sparked concern,” Barker wrote.

In a statement, Eisai said Cheung “realized his missions” with the full Leqembi approval and reimbursement from CMS and has a “strong desire to pursue a new chapter in his leadership career.”

He joined the company in 2005, about half a decade after it had launched Aricept, Eisai’s first drug for the memory-robbing disease. Cheung worked his way up the drug giant’s corporate strategy ladder, moving through various commercial, R&D and therapeutic area units before taking over the US chief post in 2016.

The new Alzheimer’s leader is part of the Naito family, which founded Eisai in 1941. Haruo and Keisuke both have degrees from Northwestern University. Keisuke has led dementia collaborations at the company and had also previously served as chief digital officer.

Editor’s note: This story was updated to include information from an analyst note and Eisai statement. 

fda
shares
medical
biotech