May 11, 2017
By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
Yet another top Sanofi Genzyme executive has left the company. In early April, Yamo Deniz, Sanofi Genzyme’s vice president and Global Head of Medical for Rare Diseases, departed the company to join Flexion Therapeutics as chief medical officer (CMO).
The most recent is David Ford, head of human resources at Sanofi Genzyme, who is leaving to join New York-based Intercept Pharmaceuticals . Ford had been with Sanofi Genzyme for almost 15 years.
The Boston Business Journal notes, “The move marks the latest high-profile departure from Sanofi Genzyme, which had around 5,000 employees in Massachusetts as of last fall. The head of the division, David Meeker, announced April 5 that he plans to leave at the end of June following a 23-year career.”
Meeker, who was head of the rare disease unit, will be replaced by Bill Sibold, currently Genzyme’s head of global multiple sclerosis, oncology and immunology. He will take over on July 1. Shortly after his announcement, privately-held Rhythm Pharmaceuticals in Boston, announced that Meeker was coming in as chairman of the board. Rhythm focuses on a drug called semelanotide, for weight loss and hunger control.
Deniz’s jump to Flexion was particularly notable because there were rumors that Sanofi was in talks to acquire Flexion. In addition, Mark Fraga, formerly head of Global Marketing for Sanofi Biosurgery, joined Flexion as vice president of Marketing in June 2016. And Scott Kelley, formerly vice president of Global Medical Affairs for Sanofi Biosurgery joined Flexion as vice president of Medical Affairs in May 2016.
Ford had been with Sanofi since July 2002, when he was HR Director UK and Ireland for Sanofi-Synthelabo. He then became vice president HR Development for Sanofi Aventis, then vice president HR North America for Sanofi, then vice president Human Resources for Sanofi Genzyme.
Intercept focuses on developing and commercializing drugs to treat progressive non-viral liver diseases. Its lead product, Ocaliva (obeticholic acid) received accelerated approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in May 2016 for primary biliary cholangitis. On March 2, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) approved Ocaliva for routine use by the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It had been conditionally approved in the European Union to treat primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) in combination with ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) in adults with an inadequate response to UDCA, or as monotherapy in adults unable to tolerate UDCA.
“We look forward to David’s leadership in further enhancing and developing our talented team and filling key positions in our growing organization,” said Mark Pruzanski, Intercept’s chief executive officer, in a statement.
