The past few days has had a flurry of activity in the industry with leadership changes. Let’s take a look at some of those!
South San Francisco-based Second Genome tapped Chief Scientific Officer Karim Dabbagh as its new president and chief executive officer. Dabbagh will replace Glenn Nedwin, who retired from the company.
Corey Goodman, chairman of the Second Genome board of directors, said Dabbagh, who has served as CSO since 2014, is the perfect choice to take over the helm of the company, particularly at this stage of growth.
“From being absolutely instrumental in building a robust and integrated drug discovery platform that has generated a deep pipeline of novel therapeutic compounds, to his expertise in advancing robust R&D pipelines, he (Dabbagh) has the right blend of experience to advance programs through clinical studies,” Goodman said in a statement.
The transition comes as the company is moving its lead product SGM-1019, into Phase II in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).
Prior to his tenure with Second Genome, Dabbagh served as head of the immunoregulation department and external R&D innovation for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases at Pfizer. Before Pfizer, Dabbagh co-founded Modus BioMedicine, a start-up biotechnology company focused on treatments for transplantation and autoimmune disease.
Second Genome wasn’t the only company to announce mid-week leadership changes.
Lexington, Mass.-based Curis, Inc. named James E. Dentzer as its new president and CEO. Dentzer will replace Ali Fattaey, the company said. Fattaey had served as CEO since 2014. The company did not indicate why Fattaey is no longer in the role of CEO. The company said he was instrumental “in transforming Curis into a development-focused company with a pipeline of clinical-stage assets” and also said he was a key in recruiting Dentzer to Curis, who was named chief operating officer for the company earlier this year.
“As Chief Operating Officer, Jim has been a driver of the business operations of the company, while bringing important perspective to the development of Curis’s strategic plan. Looking forward, we believe he is best positioned to lead Curis as we seek to progress our three high-value programs quickly and successfully through the clinic,” Martyn D. Greenacre, chairman of the Curis Board of Directors said in a statement.
Prior to his role at Curis, Dentzer held leadership roles at Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, Amicus Therapeutics, Valeritas, and Biogen.
San Diego-based Acadia Pharmaceuticals also made some changes to its leadership. The company named Robert Kaper as its global head of medical affairs. Additionally, Acadia hired Eliseo Salinas as its chief scientific officer and head of external innovation.
Acadia Chief Executive Officer Steve Davis said Salinas and Kaper will be “of tremendous help to us as we continue to realize the significant opportunities of Nuplazid and deliver on our vision of building a leading CNS company.”
The news of the hires comes days after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) affirmed the safety profile of Nuplazid, following a report that raised concern over a number of deaths and adverse events linked to the medication
Kaper most recently served as head of medical and scientific affairs for AMAG Pharmaceuticals. He has also held roles at Teva, Cephalon and Organon. Salina most recently served as chief medical officer for New World Laboratories, where he led pre-clinical, clinical and regulatory activities for directly reprogrammed cell therapy programs in neurodegeneration.
Lastly, Michigan-based Gemphire Therapeutics saw two of its senior executives caught up in a round of layoffs following the company’s announcement its mid-stage non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) treatment for pediatric patients actually worsened the disease in some patients. Two of the five employees caught up in the layoffs include Jeffrey S. Mathiesen, the company’s chief financial officer, and Lee Golden, the company’s chief medical officer. Mathiesen has agreed to act as a consultant to Gemphire for a period of eight months, to provide advice on certain financial and accounting matters, Gemphire said in its announcement.
Stephen Gullans, who was named CEO of Gemphire earlier this month, said the layoffs are a “necessary action” to conserve capital. The company said it anticipates severance-related charges totaling approximately $1.4 million, related to the layoffs.
“We remain confident in the potential value of gemcabene as a breakthrough therapy for dyslipidemia and are committed to working with the FDA to complete the necessary steps to lift the partial clinical hold,” Gullans said in a statement.
