Biopharma and life sciences companies strengthen their leadership teams and boards with these Movers & Shakers.
MoMa Therapeutics – Asit Parikh was named president and chief executive officer of Cambridge, Mass.-based MOMA Therapeutics. Parikh will assume the role April 5. He succeeds founding CEO, Reid Huber, a partner at Third Rock Ventures, who will remain on MOMA’s Board of Directors. Prior to MOMA, Parikh served as senior vice president and head of Takeda’s gastroenterology unit since 2012. Before his time with Takeda, he worked in the clinical research division at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, where he held leadership roles in inflammation and oncology drug development.
Unity Biotechnology -- Przemyslaw (Mike) Sapieha was named chief scientific officer of Bay Area-based UNITY. Sapieha is the Wolfe Professor of Translational Research at the University of Montreal and director of the neurovascular eye disease research unit at Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont in Montreal. UNITY also announced that Jason Damiano, had been promoted to the role of vice president of translational biology, and Nathan Guz, had been promoted to the role of vice president of operations.
CRISPR Therapeutics – Philippe Drouet was named chief commercial officer of CRISPR Therapeutics. Drouet most recently served as senior vice president of Global Oncology Marketing & Market Access at Merck & Co. Previously, he served as President of Hospira’s U.S. division before its acquisition by Pfizer in 2015. Prior to that, Drouet held roles of increasing responsibility at Novartis Pharmaceutical Corporation, including vice president of U.S. Hematology.
Hofseth BioCare – Reto Renggli was named vice president of Norway-based Hofseth BioCare ASA’s Consumer Health Division. Renggli is the former head of Sales and Marketing of Health Ingredients at Lonza where he managed key commercial relationships with multinationals such as Nestle and Danone.
Trevi Therapeutics – William Forbes was named chief development officer of Connecticut-based Trevi. Forbes will be responsible for leading the clinical development of Haduvio which is in late-stage clinical trials in its two lead indications. Before joining Trevi, he served as founder, president and CEO of Vivelix Pharmaceuticals. Prior to Vivelix, Forbes held multiple senior leadership positions throughout his career, including CDO for Salix Pharmaceuticals.
Cerevance – Carrie Ann Cook was named chief business officer of Boston-based Cerevance. Cook most recently served as senior vice president/global head of business development at CANbridge Pharmaceuticals Inc. Prior to this, she served as senior director, center for external innovation, rare disease, at Takeda Pharmaceuticals. Cook previously served as head of global business development & licensing, MS, medical devices and global health at EMD Serono, Inc., and as global business development director, neurology and rheumatology at Merck Serono SA. She also held various leadership positions in business development and marketing at Novartis Pharma AG and Baxter Healthcare SA.
Gain Therapeutics -- Dov Goldstein, Gwen Melincoff, Claude Nicaise, and Hans Peter Hasler were named independent members of the Gain Therapeutics Board of Directors. The new board additions will provide strategic guidance as the company focuses on identifying and optimizing allosteric binding sites that have never before been targeted to unlock new treatment options for difficult-to-treat disorders characterized by protein misfolding. In conjunction with the new additions, Lorenzo Leoni and Marianne Bjordal will be stepping down from the board.
Windtree Therapeutics – Joseph Soffer was named executive director of Clinical Development for Pennsylvania Windtree Therapeutics, Inc. Soffer most recently served as the Senior Medical Director of Clinical Development at GlaxoSmithKline. Previously, he served as Associate Medical Director of Medical Affairs at Merck and also worked at Medcases.
QurAlis Corporation – Hagen Cramer was named chief production officer and Kevin Leach was appointed to the position of SVP of Translational Science & Portfolio Strategy. Prior to joining QurAlis, Cramer functioned as Vice President of Manufacturing at Wave Life Sciences where he was responsible for establishing world-class cGMP operations for the scale-up of oligonucleotide synthesis, regulatory filings and process validation. Leach most recently served as vice president of nonclinical and translational research at Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals. Before Spring Bank, Leach served in various scientific and research roles of increasing responsibility at Retrophin, Shire Pharmaceuticals and Merck.
Patient Square Capital – Alex Albert and Neel Varshney joined Patient Square as Founding Partners. Albert was previously at Ares Management, where he served as Partner and co-head of health care within the Private Equity Group. Varshney was most recently at KKR, where he was Managing Director within the Americas Health Care Team.
PredictImmune – U.K.-based PredictImmune established its IBD Clinical Advisory Board. The board is charged by Severine Vermeire, Consultant Gastroenterologist, Department of Gastroenterology, University Hospital Leuven.
Scenic Biotech – Netherlands-based Scenic Biotech BV appointed Philippe Dro as its independent chairman of the board of directors. He replaced Ulrich Grau. Dro served on the board of Themis Biosciences and was CEO of GlycoVaryn. He led Endoart S.A.as CEO before its acquisition by Allergan. His earlier career experience in the pharmaceutical industry included managerial positions at Novartis, SkyePharma and Antares Pharma.
OncoSec Medical Inc. – Brian Leuthner was appointed chief security officer and Joe Smith was named vice president of Business Development at OncoSec Medical Incorporated. Leuthner held a variety of leadership positions over his 32 year biotech and pharmaceutical career, including CEO and COO functions. Leuthner was president, CEO and co-founder of Edge Therapeutics, Inc., an orphan disease-focused company, which merged with PDS Biotechnology in 2019. Leuthner held a variety of leadership positions at companies including Fontus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., The Medicines Company, ESP Pharma, Cardinal Health, Johnson & Johnson, Thomas Ferguson Healthcare Advertising Agency and Glaxo Wellcome Company. Smith was most recently an independent transaction advisor and acting Head of Business Development to a number of biotechnology and specialty pharmaceutical companies, including an antibody-focused start-up, an orphan ophthalmology specialty business and a vaccine technology business focused on COVID-19. Previously, he was Executive Director & Head of Business Development & Strategy for EyePoint Pharmaceuticals.
Imago Biosciences – Enoch Kariuki was appointed to the board of directors at Imago Biosciences. Kariuki most recently served as the CFO of VelosBio. Prior to VelosBio, he served as senior vice president, corporate development at Synthorx. Before Synthorx, Kariuki was a vice president at H.I.G. Capital.
Glympse Bio -- Jessica Atkinson was named SVP of Business Development at Glympse Bio. Most recently, Atkinson served as the vice president of BioPharma Business Development at Foundation Medicine and prior to that was senior director of Corporate and Business Development. Prior to Foundation Medicine, she held a business development role at Asuragen, Inc., and before that, she spent eight years at Schering-Plough/Merck & Co.
Germin8 Ventures – Ashlie L. Burkart was named CSO of Germin8. Burkart is a highly respected gastrointestinal pathologist and a grant-funded researcher conducting gut barrier mechanistic studies with far-reaching implications for human health and disease.
TISSIUM -- Hunt Henrie was named CBO and Seth Schulman was tapped to serve as vice president of Global Regulatory and Clinical Affairs at Paris-based TISSIUM. Most recently, Henrie served as Managing Director and Global Head of Medtech at Locust Walk, an independent strategic advisory, M&A, and capital markets investment bank. He also held positions at Ferghana Partners and J.P. Morgan Chase, among others. Schulman most recently served as vice president of Regulatory Affairs at Penumbra Inc. Prior to that, he held roles at Genzyme Biosurgery, Medtronic Vascular, and Boston Scientific.
Synthekine Inc. – Pablo Cagnoni was appointed to the board of directors of Synthekine. Cagnoni is currently the CEO of Rubius Therapeutics. Prior to Rubius, Cagnoni served as the president and CEO of Tizona Therapeutics. Previously, he was president of Onyx Pharmaceuticals. Cagnoni has had several clinical development leadership roles in his past, including Global Head of Clinical Development at Novartis Oncology, CMO at Allos Therapeutics and CMO at OSI Pharmaceuticals.
Secarna Pharmaceuticals – Alexander Gebauer was named CEO of Germany’s Secarna Pharmaceuticals GmbH & Co. KG. Gebauer most recently served as CEO and Chairman of Omeicos Ophthalmics Inc. In parallel, he acted as Managing Director of Berlin-based Omeicos Therapeutics GmbH. From 2014 to 2016, Alexander Gebauer was president and Head of Global R&D at the Sun Pharma Group.
Datacubed Health -- Kirk McPoyle was named chief commercial officer of Datacubed. Prior to Datacubed Health, McPoyle spent four years at Clinical Ink as CCO and held previous leadership positions at Acurian, IQVIA and TAP Pharmaceuticals.
BioNJ – BioNJ, the life sciences trade association for New Jersey, announced the election of its 2021 officers and board members. Newly elected Officers include Chair Will Lewis, CEO of Insmed, Inc.; Vice Chair Monika A. Vnuk, vice president of R&D Business Development at Pfizer; Treasurer Greg Oakes, North American president for Vifor Pharma; and re-elected as Secretary Michele Korfin, COO and CCO of Gamida Cell. Lewis succeeds Christopher J. Schaber, CEO of Soligenix, Inc., who concluded a two-year term. Schaber moves into the Immediate Past Chair’s role.
