BioSpace Movers and Shakers: May 3
Following an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation into allegations of inappropriate billing, uBiome has tapped an interim chief executive officer to replace its co-CEOs who have been placed on administrative leave by the company board of directors.
John Rakow, the company's general counsel, will take over the company in the interim as the investigations continue. Rakow, who joined uBiome last year, said he wants company stakeholders to know that uBiome leadership will cooperate with the FBI investigation, as well as an investigation by the California Department of Insurance into the billing practices.
Other leadership changes of note this week are below:
Enzyre – Netherlands-based Enzyre appointed Dirk Pollet as CEO. Pollet has more than 25 years in the diagnostics and biotechnology industries. Prior to his new role at Enzyre, he led Multiplicom NV, a European diagnostics company, which was acquired by Agilent Technologies. Before this, he served as chief business officer of Cellectis SA. Prior to Cellectis, Pollet spent eight years at Galapagos NV where he held a number of senior positions.
Sobi -- Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB (Sobi) appointed Amy Pott as the new Head of Sobi North America. She replaces Rami Levin who is leaving Sobi. Pott was most recently group vice president and U.S. franchise head for internal medicine & oncology at Shire. She was also head of U.S. commercial operations at Shire. Prior to that, Pott spent 10 years at Baxter, where she held UK and international roles working with both rare diseases and medical devices. Previous to her roles at Baxter and Shire, Pott held positions at the National Institute for Health & Clinical Excellence (NICE) and the NHS Confederation.
Amylyx – Cambridge, Mass.-based Amylyx Pharmaceuticals made two appointments. The company tapped Patrick Yeramian as chief medical officer and Tom Holmes as global head of supply chain. Yeramian was previously the consulting medical director for Amylyx, where he has supported the pre-IND and IND filings of AMX0035 for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Alzheimer’s disease, and has overseen the design and execution of both clinical trials. Previously he served as CMO at Viragen, Inc. where he was responsible for the development of global clinical and regulatory strategies and for the implementation of clinical programs worldwide. Prior to joining Amylyx, Holmes was the senior director of external manufacturing at Biogen Inc., a role he held for 10 years.
Mission Therapeutics – James Summers was named an independent member of Mission Therapeutics, based in Cambridge, England. Summers brings more than 30 years of drug discovery and pharmaceutical research management experience to Mission. His most recent position was as vice president of Neuroscience Research at AbbVie, where he led drug discovery efforts in the treatment of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, pain, and psychiatric disorders. Prior to his role at AbbVie, Summers was divisional vice president of advanced technology with Abbott, where he managed the organization responsible for the technologies and services that enable effective drug discovery research.
Apollomics, Inc. -- Fabio M. Benedetti joined the senior leadership team of Appollomics as CMO. Benedetti will lead the company’s global clinical development programs including clinical strategy, clinical development, and regulatory affairs. Prior to joining Apollomics, Benedetti was Global CMO at Taiho Pharmaceutical Company, Ltd. in Tokyo.
Clinigen -- James Meyer was named general manager of commercial medicines in the U.S. for Clinigen. He joined Clinigen after five years at Teva Pharmaceuticals where he led the Oncology New Products Division in the U.S.
OncoCell MDx -- Mark McDonough was named president and CEO of Michigan-based OncoCell. McDonough succeeds company co-founder and CEO Harry Stylli. Stylli continues as the executive chairman of the company. McDonough most recently served as the chief business officer at Phosphorus, a genomic health company. Prior to Phosphorus, McDonough served as CEO and president of CombiMatrix, a publicly held molecular diagnostics company. He also held executive and management positions with U.S. LABS (acquired by LabCorp) and Ventana Medical Systems (acquired by Roche) as well as Pathwork Diagnostics.
Inscripta – Boulder, Colo.-based Inscripta named Ron McGrath as CFO. McGrath has held leadership and financial roles for more than 25 years in the biotechnology and information technology industries, most recently at Illumina, the leader in DNA sequencing technology. He served as vice president of finance at Illumina. He also served as chief of staff in operations. Before Illumina, he held financial leadership roles at Memec, LLC.
Avellino Labs – Avellino Labs made numerous additions to its advisory team. The company announced that Eric Donnenfeld, Edward Holland, Richard Lindstrom, and Elizabeth Yeu have joined its board of medical advisors. Donnenfeld is a past president of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery and national medical director for TLC Laser Eye Centers. Holland is the director of cornea services at Cincinnati Eye Institute and professor of ophthalmology at the University of Cincinnati. Lindstrom, founder of Minnesota Eye Consultants, is an internationally-recognized leader in corneal, cataract and refractive surgery and sought-after keynote and guest lecturer before professional societies around the world. Yeu, of Virginia Eye Consultants, is an assistant professor at the Eastern Virginia Medical School. She is editor-in-chief of U.S. Ophthalmic Review and is the medical editor for Millennial Eye.
Arcus Biosciences – William Grossman has been named CMO of Arcus Biosciences. Grossman will oversee all aspects of the Company’s global clinical development strategy and operations. Grossman joins Arcus from Bellicum Pharmaceuticals, where he served as CMO and was responsible for the company’s clinical development, regulatory affairs, clinical operations and medical affairs organizations. Prior to Bellicum, Grossman was the global group medical director for cancer immunotherapy at Genentech. Before Genentech, Grossman held leadership roles at AbbVie, Biothera and Merck.
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