Pharma and biotech companies make changes to leadership roles, with new hires at Agios, Notable, Rapamycin, Confo, AVEO and more.
Agios Pharmaceuticals – Chief Commercial Officer Steven Hoerter has resigned his role at Agios to accept a role as chief executive officer at an oncology-focused biotechnology company. Hoerter’s last day with the company will be March 15, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Notable Labs –California-based Notable expanded its management team with the addition of two seasoned biopharma executives. Hiroomi Tada joined the company as chief medical officer. Tada will oversee Notable’s clinical operations. Tada, a specialist in translational science and clinical drug development, was most recently vice president of targeted therapies and translational sciences at Incyte Corporation. He also held roles at GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca. Lloyd Mackenzie will become Notable’s chief development officer. He will be responsible for identifying drug development opportunities. Mackenzie was most recently chief operating officer and head of R&D at Aquinox Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
ReViral -- Seth Hetherington was named CMO of London-based ReViral. Hetherington joins ReViral from Genocea Biosciences Inc. where he was CMO for seven years, leading the clinical development of therapeutic vaccines, including for certain viral targets.
Viriom – Iain Dukes was named CEO of San Diego-based Viriom. Dukes brings to Viriom over 20 years of extensive experience in drug discovery, pharmaceutical research and business development, as well as in leadership and consulting for numerous biotech and venture capital organizations. Dukes is a Venture Partner at OrbiMed and serves as chairman of the board of Iovance Biotherapeutics, as well as CEO of Theseus Pharmaceuticals. Previously, he was head of business development & licensing at Merck & Co. Prior to Merck, Dukes held positions at Amgen, Essentialis Therapeutics and GSK.
Progenity – San Diego-based Progenity named four new directors to its board of directors. Jeffrey D. Alter, John T. Bigalke, Samuel R. Nussbaum and Lynne Powell were named to the board of directors. Alter is currently President of Arcturus One Consulting and was formerly CEO of UnitedHealthcare’s Commercial Group. Bigalke founded and is currently CEO of Second Half Healthcare Advisors. Nussbaum serves as a strategic consultant for EBG Advisors and a senior advisor to Sandbox Industries and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. Powell is currently chief commercial officer at BioCryst Pharmaceuticals.
MasterControl – U.S. Food and Drug Administration veteran Bryant Headley was tapped by Utah-based MasterControl to lead sales and customer success efforts with government entities such as the FDA, VA, Department of Defense and the Department of Treasury. Headley previously served as Business/Program Manager at the FDA. Prior to the FDA, he served as Program Manager for the VA for its Health Data Repository.
Amazon -- Nader Kabbani has been tapped to run Amazon’s new pharmacy business, CNBC reported. The new business includes the team that came in with last year’s acquisition of PillPack. According to the CNBC report, Kabbani was the point person for the purchase of PillPack.
Rapamycin – San Antonio-based Rapamycin Holdings launched a new corporate brand called Emtora Biosciences and tapped Carole Spangler Vaughn as its new CEO. Spangler Vaughn succeeds Dan Hargrove, who recruited her. Throughout her career, Spangler Vaughn has worked with numerous organizations including Bristol-Myers Squibb, the University of Washington (Office of Technology Transfer), Dendreon Corporation and Clario Medical Imaging.
Confo Therapeutics – Belgium-based Confo Therapeutics launched its scientific advisory board with four key appointments: Radu Aricescu, Peter Kolb, Graeme Milligan and Jan Steyaert, the founder of Confo Therapeutics, who will also serve as chairman of the SAB. Aricescu is a program leader at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in the U.K. Kolb is a professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at Philipps-University Marburg, Germany. Milligan is a professor of Molecular Pharmacology, Dean of Research at the College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, and Gardiner Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. Steyaert is Scientific Director of the VIB-VUB Center for Structural Biology.
SHYFT Analytics –Waltham, Mass.-based SHYFT, a division of Medidata, added to its leadership team with two key hires, Bruno Lempernesse and Aaron Galaznik. As vice president and general manager of the SHYFT RWE solutions team, Lempernesse will focus on executing and accelerating the evidence generation strategies of SHYFT’s biopharma and CRO partners. Prior to joining SHYFT, Lempernesse was the CEO of Inflexxion. Galaznik, as head of research, will lead a team working hand-in-hand with customers and partners to execute and inform research strategy, and support the growing RWE needs of the industry. Prior, he served in leadership roles at Takeda and Pfizer developing and executing real-world data initiatives.
AVEO Oncology -- Gregory T. Mayes was named to the board of directors of Cambridge, Mass.-based AVEO Oncology. Mayes is the president, CEO and founder of Engage Therapeutics. Prior to Engage Therapeutics, Mayes served as COO of Advaxis Immunotherapies, and a member of its board of directors. Additionally, John H. Johnson stepped down from the AVEO Board in conjunction with his acceptance of a CEO position outside the company. He will remain with AVEO in an advisory role, the company said.
DermTech – Allergan veteran Todd Wood joined La Jolla, Calif.-based DermTech as chief commercial officer and will oversee sales and marketing functions at the company.
Emergex Vaccines Holding Limited -- Athanasios Papadopoulos was named CMO of England-based Emergex. Papadopoulos joins Emergex from Sanofi, the global pharmaceutical company, where he was most recently Associate Vice President, Senior Director and Clinical Franchise Leader of Global Clinical Sciences since 2015. Prior to Sanofi, Papadopoulos worked at Novartis as Medical Affairs Director and Senior Global Clinical Research Physician as well as Lead Head of CLS and Senior Director of Clinical Development.
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