Sanofi Exec Jumps Ship to Helm Merrimack

January 18, 2017
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Merrimack Pharmaceuticals has a new chief executive officer. Richard Peters, the head of global rare diseases at Sanofi , will take over the company on Feb. 6.

Merrimack’s former CEO Robert Mulroy stepped down in October from the company as part of a corporate restructuring move undertaken by the cancer drug manufacturing company. After Mulroy stepped down, Gary Crocker took on the role of interim president and chief executive officer. In addition to Mulroy stepping down, the company has also slashed nearly 80 percent of its workforce as part of the restructuring. By the close of the Ipsen deal, the company will have reduced staff by 80 percent from 400 employees to about 80.

Peters said he was excited to come to Merrimack at a “time of renewed company focus.” In a statement, Peters said he will work with Merrimack leadership to “take substantial steps to grow our robust pipeline to its full potential, with an eye toward early data read-outs, to maximize value creation for patients and stockholders."

Peters joins Merrimack fresh off an infusion of cash from its deal with Paris-based Ipsen, which agreed to acquire Merrimack’s approved pancreatic cancer drug Onivyde. Merrimack will earn up to $1.02 billion from the deal, based upon the drug’s approval of additional indications, such as lung cancer and breast cancer. Ipsen also acquired Merrimack’s Doxil, a generic version of doxorubicin hydrochloride (HCL) liposome injection for ovarian cancer, AIDS-related Kaposi’s sarcoma and multiple myeloma.

Merrimack said it intends to use the proceeds from the sale of Onivyde to pay off debts and fully fund its clinical development-focused operations into the second half of 2019. Onivyde was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in October 2015. Onivyde generated $12.9 million in sales during the second quarter of 2016. The drug comes with a black box warning for severe neutropenia, an abnormally low count of white blood cells and severe diarrhea.

Crocker, who is also chairman of Merrimack’s board of directors, said Peters is the right leader to focus on development and approval of the company’s “three highest potential assets, MM-121, MM-141 and MM-310.”

MM-121 (seribantumab), received Fast Track Designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in August. Seribantumab is being developed for patients with heregulin-positive, locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer whose disease has progressed following immunotherapy. Phase II data for seribantumab indicated the drug decreased risk of death by more than 50 percent in HER2-negative, hormone receptor positive breast cancer patients.

MM-141 (istiratumab) is a bispecific tetravalent antibody and potent inhibitor of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway that targets IGF1-R and HER3. MM-310 is an antibody directed nanotherapeutic that targets the EphA2 receptor. The company hopes it will be an effective treatment in prostate, ovarian, bladder, gastric and lung cancers.

Peters comes to Merrimack with more than 25 years of experience. While at Sanofi, Peters oversaw a $3 billion business with 10 commercialized products and a robust pipeline in multiple therapeutic areas. Before serving as head or rare disease, Peters helmed Sanofi’s oncology division, which provides him with the background to oversee a company like Merrimack. Peters also served as a senior director at Onyx Pharmaceuticals , as a director at Amgen and as CEO of Mednav, a venture capital-backed healthcare information technology startup.