Read the latest overview of people coming and going from executive positions at biopharma companies that BioSpace covers.
Welcome to the latest update about people coming and going from executive positions at biopharma companies that BioSpace covers, or who have been personally named in lawsuits.
Lonza headlines this installment by luring a new CEO from another Swiss CDMO just days after the company made a splash by committing $1.2 billion to buy a massive biologics manufacturing facility in California. Japan’s Aculys also brought in a new CEO to replace an interim chief, while several other biopharma firms named clinical and regulatory bosses.
Lonza
Lonza, which is in process of acquiring one of the world’s largest biologics manufacturing plants from Roche for $1.2 billion, has hired Wolfgang Wienand to assume the role of CEO beginning this summer, replacing interim chief Albert Baehny. Wienand is currently CEO of Swiss CDMO Siegfried Holding. Baehny, Lonza’s board chair, has been in charge of Lonza since Pierre-Alain Ruffieux departed in September. He will retire following a transition period to Wienand’s leadership, according to the company.
Trevi Therapeutics
Trevi Therapeutics has named Margaret Garin VP of clinical development. Garin will lead the company’s development of its chronic cough treatments, including lead asset Haduvio, an investigational compound now in Phase IIa and Phase IIb trials for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and refractory chronic cough. Garin, a physician, had been executive director of clinical development at Bellus Health, which GSK acquired for $2 billion last year.
Zephyr AI
Startup precision medicine technology firm Zephyr AI has hired Rachael Brake as chief scientific officer. Brake is a former CSO of Corbus Pharmaceuticals, where she helped build an R&D team in precision medicine and immuno-oncology. Zephyr AI last month closed a $111 million Series A funding round from investors including Eli Lilly.
KBI Biopharma
JSR Life Sciences’ KBI Biopharma has hired Peter Carbone as chief quality officer to lead the company’s quality, compliance and regulatory affairs efforts. The CDMO recently inked a strategic alliance with Argonaut Manufacturing Services to augment KBI’s sterile fill-finish services. Last year, the firm launched a new suite of monoclonal antibody development and manufacturing services.
Aculys Pharma
Aculys Pharma has brought in Hidemasa Tanigaki as CEO and representative director. Tanigaki, who replaces interim chief Takeshi Takahashi, joins Aculys after serving as head of Takeda’s gastrointestinal business for two years. He is a former CEO and president of Nihon Pharmaceutical. Tokyo-based Aculys in October reported positive interim results of a Phase III trial of a diazepam nasal spray for treating epileptic seizures in a pediatric population.
Neil Versel is the business editor at BioSpace. You can reach him at neil.versel@biospace.com. Follow him on LinkedIn or X.
