At Kite, Shaw will focus on turning around the company’s flagship CAR-T treatment Yescarta, as well as focus on the development of other cancer-targeting cell therapies.
Eli Lilly veteran Christi L. Shaw is taking over the reins of Kite Pharma, the oncology-focused subsidiary of Gilead Sciences, as its new chief executive officer. Shaw will assume her new role with the California-based Kite at the end of August.
Shaw will be running the subsidiary, which Gilead acquired in 2017 for $12 billion, as its own company. Her primary focus will be on cell therapies targeting cancer. That includes Yescarta (axicatagene ciloleuce), the second CAR-T therapy approved in the United States. Since its approval, Yescarta has been struggling to generate the expected amount of revenue. Sales have been hampered, in part, due to the risk of toxicity, cost and logistical issues regarding the process. In the first quarter of 2019, Yescarta generated $96 million in sales, which was more than double from the same quarter the previous year. The increase was driven by an increase in the number of therapies provided to patients, the company said at the time. While sales are increasing, it’s probably not going up as quickly as some analysts hoped for after Gilead plunked down $12 billion for Kite.
Shaw said the vision of transformational drug development and aim to cure cancer is something she is passionate about. In a brief statement, Shaw said she looks forward to working with the Kite staff “as we change the way cancer is treated and bring forward important, life-saving therapies.”
Gilead CEO Daniel O’Day, a Roche veteran who took over the helm of the company earlier this year, said they conducted an “extensive search” for the new head of Kite. In a brief statement, O’Day said he and his leadership team believe Shaw’s “unique set of skills will allow us to continue to build on our leadership position in cell therapy.”
“Christi’s vast experience across complex therapeutic areas, and particularly in oncology, will serve Kite very well. She is clearly a leader who will bring teams and individuals together and I am confident she will build upon the entrepreneurial spirit at Kite as we seek to help more people with cancer around the world,” O’Day said.
Shaw currently serves as president of Lilly Bio-Medicines. She will hold onto that spot until the end of August, when Patrik Jonsson, currently president and general manager of Lilly Japan, takes over that role. Shaw returned to Lilly in 2017 after serving as president of Novartis USA and North American region head of Novartis Oncology. Previously, she held roles in the Janssen and Ethicon divisions of Johnson & Johnson. Under her direction at Lilly, the company’s Bio-Medicines division launched multiple new medicines globally, such as Olumiant and Emgality, and added key development projects to our early and late phase portfolio.
Since taking over at Gilead, O’Day has been strengthening his leadership team, particularly after the departure of Alessandro Riva, who left to take over Glenmark Pharmaceuticals and the planned retirement of Chief Financial Officer Robin Washington. In May though, O’Day tapped Bristol-Myers Squibb veteran Johanna Mercier as its new chief commercial officer. At BMS she served as president and head of the company’s Large Markets division, which includes the United States, France, Germany and Japan.
