While the biotech market sees a high demand for the chief medical officer role, one Massachusetts oncology player has deemed the role completely unnecessary.
While the biotech market sees a high demand for the chief medical officer role, one Massachusetts oncology player has deemed the role completely unnecessary.
In a surprising move, Replimune has axed its CMO role in the name of “restructuring,” leaving Andrea Pirzkall unexpectedly free to explore other opportunities. Pirzkall came to Replimune just last July, mid-pandemic, with prior experience in the immuno-oncology sphere as executive director of Clinical Development with BeiGene and a decade of work at Genentech before that.
According to its SEC filing, Replimune restructured operations so that “all functions previously reporting to the Chief Medical Officer now report directly to the President and Chief Research and Development Officer, Dr. Robert Coffin or the Chief Development Operations Officer, Tanya Lewis.”
Lewis has even less tenure than Pirzkall, having just been appointed to her role in May.
Pirzkall was brought on to lead clinical development of Replimune’s oncolytic immuno-gene cancer therapies. The company’s platform uses a new strain of the herpes simplex virus (HSV), a technology that has been around for years. HSV can selectively kill tumor cells.
So far, Replimune’s pipeline doesn’t seem to stand alone as solo treatments for cancer, but its lead candidate has shown promise as a combination therapy. RP1 has completed a Phase I/II trial combined with Bristol Myers Squibb’s Opdivo for melanoma with a high rate of complete response in patients. Additional tests are underway with RP1 in advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma combined with Libtayo, while a trial for RP1 combined with Opdivo in anti-PD1 failed cutaneous melanoma is now enrolling.
Driving these three drug candidates through clinical development will now be under the jurisdiction of Coffin and Lewis. Lewis came to the company from Karyopharm Therapeutics where she served for almost three years, most recently as EVP, chief regulatory and quality officer.
Replimune’s decision seems abrupt with the notification of termination on the same day as the filing: “Accordingly, on August 25, 2021, the Company notified Dr. Andrea Pirzkall that her employment with the Company has terminated, without cause.”
Replimune moved quickly. This morning, her photo is already nowhere to be found on the company website.
