Deborah Birx enters new phase as biotech CEO; Verastem chief announces his retirement

Deborah Birx

→ After entering the public consciousness with the White House Coronavirus Task Force and embarking on a subsequent book tour, Deborah Birx has replaced Brian Varnum as CEO of Armata Pharmaceuticals, a California biotech developing bacteriophages. Concurrent with Birx’s appointment, Armata also picked up $25 million in funding through a subsidiary of Innoviva, where Birx had a seat on the board of directors before joining Armata. Birx was a mainstay with then-NIAID Director Anthony Fauci in White House press briefings at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Brian Stuglik

→ Verastem Oncology CEO Brian Stuglik will retire on Aug. 1 as Dan Paterson gets elevated to the top spot. Paterson’s association with Verastem began 12 years ago as head of corporate development and diagnostics, and a quick rise followed, becoming CBO within a year and then COO a year later. He was then named president in addition to his COO duties in June 2019. Stuglik, a 33-year Eli Lilly vet and the chief executive at Verastem since 2019, will keep his seat on the board of directors.

Verastem raised $85 million in a public offering after unspooling positive data for its low-grade serous ovarian cancer combo avutometinib/defactinib at ASCO this year.

Rupert Vessey

→ Leave it to Flagship Pioneering to make yet another big hire, landing Rupert Vessey as chief scientist and executive partner. His first day is July 31. It’s the latest feather in Noubar Afeyan’s cap after Vessey’s departure from Bristol Myers Squibb as its research and early development leader was announced earlier this year. And it turns out he didn’t leave on his own terms, according to an SEC filing that characterized Vessey’s exit as an “involuntary termination ‘without cause.’” Vessey will also be an advisor for Pioneering Medicines, where fellow Bristol Myers vet Paul Biondi is president.

Vessey’s appointment underscores how Flagship continues to swing for the fences with its personnel, installing several high-profile leaders like former FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn (Harbinger Health), ex-AbbVie president Michael Severino (Tessera Therapeutics) and one-time Ancestry chief Margo Georgiadis (Montai Health). John Carroll lends more perspective.

Ivan Cheung

→ At long last, Eisai and Biogen’s Leqembi received the first-ever full approval for an Alzheimer’s drug that slows some progression of the disease. And now that global Alzheimer’s officer and US CEO Ivan Cheung has helped Leqembi cross the goal line, he’ll be stepping down after almost 18 years with the company. It’s a move reminiscent of Tal Zaks’ decision to leave his CMO post at Moderna just a couple months after its own watershed moment: the emergency use authorization for its Covid-19 vaccine. Eisai CEO Haruo Naito’s son, Keisuke Naito, will replace Cheung as Eisai’s global Alzheimer’s leader while retaining the roles of chief strategy & planning officer and chief ecosystem officer. Meanwhile, CFO and chief investor relations officer Tatsuyuki Yasuno will become US CEO.

Joseph Ferra

→ Joseph Ferra has been upgraded to permanent CEO of Elevation Oncology, and Tammy Furlong has gained a promotion to CFO. We told you about Ferra stepping up as interim chief six months ago after Shawn Leland’s resignation from Elevation Oncology, which pressed pause on the ex-Merrimack drug seribantumab and moved its antibody-drug conjugate EO-3021 to the front of the pipeline. Furlong came to Elevation in April 2021 as VP of finance and accounting, and Ferra joined the team shortly thereafter as finance chief; he owns previous CFO experience from Syros Pharmaceuticals.

Howard Horn

→ Ultragenyx has tapped Howard Horn as CFO and EVP, corporate strategy a few months after he resigned at Vir Biotechnology. Horn was Biogen’s head of strategic corporate finance and head of business planning before he took the CFO job at Vir in 2017, and ex-MorphoSys and Sangamo CFO Sung Lee replaced Horn at the infectious disease biotech on March 27. Ultragenyx’s 110,000-square-foot gene therapy manufacturing facility in suburban Boston just opened a few weeks ago.

Rachael Lester

→ Chaired by Apple Tree Partners chief scientist and ex-Biogen R&D chief Michael Ehlers, San Diego self-replicating RNA (srRNA) startup Replicate Bioscience has brought in Rachael Lester as CBO. Lester spent nearly six years at Harpoon Therapeutics, coming on board as VP of corporate development and then earning a promotion to SVP, business development & corporate strategy two years ago. ATP supplied Replicate with $40 million in Series A funding in September 2021.

One more Apple Tree note: UCSF professor emeritus Matt Jacobson, the co-founder of such companies as Relay Therapeutics and Nine Square Therapeutics, is now part of the ATP team as a venture partner.

Julian Adams

→ In what’s become a tradition at the MLB All-Star Game, everyone in attendance — fans, players, coaches, umpires and the broadcast crew — raises placards with the name of someone they know and love who has been diagnosed with cancer. Through a partnership with Stand Up to Cancer, the “Placard Moment” took place before the top of the sixth inning at Tuesday’s Midsummer Classic. This week SU2C named Julian Adams, a member of its scientific advisory committee, as its first CSO. Adams retired in October 2022 after nearly five years as CEO of Gamida Cell, and he chairs the board at Elicio Therapeutics.

Ashwin Datt

→ Preclinical regenerative medicines company APIE Therapeutics has passed the CEO baton to Ashwin Datt. Datt takes over from Esther Algeria, who co-founded the company. Datt formerly served as chief exec at Carousel Therapeutics and also had roles at Gyroscope Therapeutics (chief people officer), Sana Biotechnology, Juno Therapeutics, Vitrisia Therapeutics and Grail, with a decade of work at Genentech.

Giorgia Scapin

→ Off-the-shelf hematopoietic stem cell therapy developer Garuda Therapeutics, which stocked up on cash with a $62 million Series B in February, has promoted Giorgia Scapin to CSO. Scapin started out as Garuda’s VP of R&D in late 2021 and moved up to SVP in a matter of months.

→ Arbutus Biopharma has promoted Karen Sims to CMO and has named Christopher Naftzger general counsel and chief compliance officer. In a separate release, the Pennsylvania biotech said it had added ex-Intercept technical operations leader Melissa Rewolinski to the board of directors. Sims came to Arbutus from Bristol Myers in 2017 and had served as VP, clinical development since September 2021. Naftzger recently filled the role of general counsel and corporate secretary at Nabriva Therapeutics (where he was also interim CEO) and Krystal Biotech. The FDA hit Arbutus with a clinical hold in late April for its hepatitis B candidate AB-101.

Nataliya Agafonova

→ Miami-based Longeveron notes that ex-Bristol Myers senior medical director Nataliya Agafonova took over as CMO on July 1. Agafonova — a veteran of Genzyme, Amgen and Biogen — just completed a two-year run with Otsuka as senior medical director, global clinical development and product development chair. She succeeds Chris Min, who doubled as the interim CEO at Longeveron before passing the baton to Wa’el Hashad on March 1.

→ Joel Naor has resigned as CMO of Australian eye disease biotech Opthea, which has plugged in senior medical advisor Kenneth Sall to take his place. Naor is an Allergan and Santen alum who had been medical chief since 2021. Opthea’s VEGF-C/D “trap” inhibitor OPT-302 for wet age-related macular degeneration is currently in Phase III.

Erica Jefferson

→ Erica Jefferson left the FDA in May and has been named SVP of corporate affairs for ReCode Therapeutics, the LNP biotech that stapled an additional $120 million onto its Series B last summer. When Jefferson announced her exit from the agency as associate commissioner for external affairs, Commissioner Robert Califf praised her in an email to colleagues. “Her knowledge of government and how it works and the trust she has engendered across the expanse of this Administration will be hard to replace,” he wrote. Pfizer Ventures, Leaps by Bayer and Amgen Ventures are just some of the big names that contributed to ReCode’s $200 million Series B.

→ AAV gene therapy developer Voyager Therapeutics has welcomed Jacquelyn Fahey Sandell as chief legal officer. Sandell comes to Voyager from Jounce Therapeutics, where she had a front-row seat to its merger with Tang Capital’s Concentra Biosciences as chief legal officer and corporate secretary. She’s also held roles on the legal teams of Genzyme, Millennium and Vericel. This marks Voyager’s first appearance in Peer Review since George Scangos’ appointment to the board of directors, reuniting him with former Biogen lieutenant Al Sandrock.

Bob Dagher

→ After finally catching a win by being granted an FDA adcomm for its ALS treatment after an RTF and failed trial in March, BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics has now enlisted Bob Dagher as EVP and chief development officer. Dagher joins from Enveric Biosciences, where he was CMO. Dagher’s previous experiences include roles at GSK, Sanofi/Genzyme and LabCorp/Covance.

→ MBX Biosciences, the endocrine biotech co-founded by Humalog inventor Richard DiMarchi, has welcomed aboard Steven Prestrelski as CSO. Prestrelski makes his way to the team from Xeris Biopharma, having served as founder and CSO. Prior to that, Prestrelski was VP, pharmaceutical research and development at Amylin Pharmaceuticals.

Hillary Bochniak

→ Hillary Bochniak has left Accenture to be chief human resources officer for Syneos Health. Bochniak almost reached the 30-year mark at Accenture and finished her career at the IT consulting giant as managing director, global HR lead for strategic accounts and sales.

→ CAR-T biotech Verismo Therapeutics, a Penn spinout, has recruited Mala Talekar as VP of clinical development. Talekar worked on such therapies as lete-cel and the antibody-drug conjugate belantamab mafodotin (Blenrep) during her six years with GSK.

Travis Whitfill

→ Dermatology-focused Azitra has enlisted Travis Whitfill as COO. Whitfill is the company’s co-founder and joins the crew from VC firm Bios Partners, where he served as a partner for nine years. During his career, Whitfill has served on the boards of IN8bio, SIRPant Immunotherapeutics, Immusoft and 410 Medical.

→ London-based Resolution Therapeutics has named Simon Ramsden as CFO. Ramsden comes aboard with experience under his belt from a nine-year stint at GSK to gigs at EUSA Pharma, Recordati, and a role as CFO of Closed Loop Medicine.

Jim Birchenough

→ Barclays has locked in Jim Birchenough as co-head of global biopharma investment banking alongside Alexis de Rosnay, who will remain chairman of global healthcare investment banking. Birchenough had been with Wells Fargo since 2015 and was in charge of the financial giant’s biopharma investment banking franchise for the past two years.

→ In the FDA’s crosshairs for quality issues at its facility in Laupheim, Germany, in May, Rentschler Biopharma is now bringing on Dominik Kugelstadt as head of clinical and commercial manufacturing, Laupheim. Kugelstadt hops aboard from Sanofi, where he served as head of the company’s mammalian launch plant. Prior to that, he was with Genzyme Virotech (later Sekisui Virotech).

Doug Fambrough

→ South San Francisco siRNA biotech Switch Therapeutics has elected ex-Dicerna boss Doug Fambrough to the board of directors. UCB Ventures and Eli Lilly were in the cast of investors that were involved in Switch’s $52 million launch round in March.

→ Neurocrine has selected former J&J vice chair Christine Poon for its latest addition to the board of directors. She’s also on the boards of Regeneron, Prudential Financial and Sherwin-Williams.

Katie Peng

→ Gamma delta T cell player Adicet Bio has appointed Denali commercial chief Katie Peng to the board of directors. To close out a lengthy tenure with Roche and Genentech, Peng led the Roche subsidiary’s OMNI (ophthalmology, metabolism, neuroscience, immunology) business unit from 2019-21.

→ Synthekine president and CEO Debanjan Ray has joined the board of directors at Normunity, Lieping Chen’s newest cancer bet that raised the curtain on a $65 million Series A in October 2022. Chaired by Canaan’s Tim Shannon, the board also includes CEO Rachel Humphrey and Sanofi Ventures’ Paulina Hill.

June Lee

→ Joy Amundson and Jean-Jacques Bertrand have resigned from the board of directors at Abivax, and CEO Marc de Garidel has lined up June Lee and Troy Ignelzi as their replacements. Lee is a venture partner at 5AM and the ex-CEO of Esker Therapeutics, while Ignelzi is the CFO of neuro biotech Karuna Therapeutics.

→ Former Acceleron CEO Habib Dable has sewn up a spot on the board of directors at cardiopulmonary disease biotech Aerovate Therapeutics. Dable works part-time as a venture partner for RA Capital and has board seats at Blueprint Medicines and PepGen.

Chris Schade

→ Flagship’s Omega Therapeutics has welcomed Chris Schade to the board of directors. We told you in February that Schade, the ex-president and CEO of Aprea Therapeutics, had joined Flagship as a growth partner.

→ San Diego-based Capricor Therapeutics has made room for Paul Auwaerter on the board of directors. Auwaerter is clinical director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Johns Hopkins and has been on the university’s faculty for 35 years.

Adrienne Graves

→ The board of directors at Ocular Therapeutix has grown to eight members with the arrival of ex-Santen CEO Adrienne Graves. Notably, Graves chaired the board at Iveric Bio, which was sold to Astellas for $5.9 billion.

→ On June 27, Cellectis gave NextVivo CSO Cécile Chartier a seat on the board of directors, the cell and gene therapy biotech said in a press release on Thursday. Chartier led the research team at Iovance from 2017-21.

Brant Binder

→ Cambridge, MA-based Eterna Therapeutics has opened up a pair of seats on its board of directors for Brant Binder and Richard Wagner, who are replacing Charles Cherington and Nicholas Singer. Binder and Wagner have worked together for a while, most recently co-founding Bonito Biosciences and, in the past, ZebiAI (acquired by Relay Therapeutics), X-BODY Biosciences (acquired by Juno Therapeutics) and X-Chem (acquired once by PPD and later GHO Capital).

→ Swiss RNA biotech Versameb has welcomed four new members to its board of directors with the appointments of Hernán Levett (CFO of Spexis); Lily Geidelberg (senior biotech analyst at Brevan Howard); Paul Korner (CMO of Agile Therapeutics) and Alexandre LeBeaut (former EVP and CSO at Ipsen).

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