Pharma and biotech companies from across the globe expand their leadership teams and boards.
Gilead Sciences – John McHutchison, chief scientific officer and head of research and development at Gilead Sciences, announced plans to leave the company this week. McHutchison, was named CSO last year, will depart the company at the end of next month and its leadership team is launching a search for his replacement. No information was provided as to why McHutchison opted to depart at this time or what his future plans may include. In addition, Chief Patent Officer Gregg Alton, who has been with the company since 1999 and Katie Watson, head of human resources, are both leaving Gilead Sciences. Alton will leave in October and Watson, who joined Gilead in 2003, will remain with the company until Sept. 1. Jyoti Mehra will become global HR head for Gilead in August.
Selecta Biosciences – Alison Schecter was named chief medical officer of Massachusetts-based Selecta Biosciences. Schecter joins Selecta from Sanofi, where she was the global project head of rare diseases and was responsible for leading the Niemann-Pick Disease (ASMD) project. Previously, Schecter was a global program head at Baxalta and also held a leadership role at Northeast J&J Innovation Center in Cambridge, where she was responsible for identifying novel product opportunities and technologies. Prior to that, she led a team at the Novartis Institutes of Biomedical Research.
PhoreMost – U.K.-based PhoreMost, which is dedicated to drugging “undruggable” targets, tapped Lorenz Mayr as a non-executive member of its board of directors. Mayr’s experience in drug discovery and development, and specifically his expertise in functional genetic screening in target identification, will help drive the expansion of PhoreMost’s next-generation SITESEEKER target discovery platform. Mayr is chief technology officer at GE Healthcare Life Sciences, where he is responsible for R&D strategy and innovation across all life sciences business areas. He has held a number of leadership positions at companies like AstraZeneca, Novartis and Bayer.
Navitor Pharmaceuticals – Randy Owen was named chief medical officer of Cambridge, Mass.-based Navitor Pharmaceuticals. He will be responsible for the clinical and regulatory development of Navitor’s pipeline of product candidates, including the development of the company’s first-in-class sestrin modulator NV-5138 in treatment-resistant depression. Owen most recently served as CMO at Acadia Pharmaceuticals. He has also held roles at Lundbeck, AbbVie and Merck.
Pappas Capital – Kyle Rasbach was named a managing partner of Pappas Ventures at North Carolina-based Pappas Capital, an investor in early-stage life sciences companies. Rasbach will help to oversee Pappas Ventures and lead fundraising and investment efforts for its future venture funds. Pappas Capital also announced that Matthew Boyer has been named chief financial officer, succeeding Ford Worthy who will continue with the firm as a partner and senior advisor. Rasbach joined Pappas Capital as a Partner in January 2018. Previously, he was a vice president at T. Rowe Price, where he managed pharmaceutical, specialty pharmaceutical and biotechnology investments. Boyer joined Pappas Capital as Controller in 2013 and has served as director of finance since 2017. Previously, he held finance and accounting positions at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Fidelity Investments and State Street Global Advisors.
Stimwave Technologies – Regina E. Groves and Marc A. Lowev were named to the board of directors of Stimwave Technologies and James M. Rallow was named the company’s chief financial officer. Groves most recently served as CEO of REVA Medical, and prior to that held top leadership positions at Medtronic, Kaiser Permanente and McKinsey & Company. Love has spent more than 20 years treating patients and serving in leadership roles in pain management include his positions as CEO and then vice chairman of the board and chief strategy officer of the National Spine and Pain Centers, as well as president of The Center for Pain Management. Rallow most recently served as president and CFO of Liquidity Services, Inc. Prior to that, Rallow served as CFO, treasurer and chief administrative officer of Sleep Services of America, Inc. and as an investment banker in the healthcare group at Deutsche Bank.
League Inc. – Toronto-based League appointed Susan Van Klink to the newly created role of chief revenue officer. Van Klink will lead the sales organization, heading up efforts in the U.S., Canada and international markets. Van Klink joins League weeks after the organization launched its new digital health experience platform, HBX, a first-of-its-kind platform creates a seamlessly integrated ecosystem of nearly 100 insurance carriers, health care partners and HRIS systems.
Aurinia Pharmaceuticals – British Columbia-based Aurinia Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced the appointments of Max Donley as executive vice president of Internal Operations and Strategy and Glenn Schulman as senior vice president of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations. Donley most recently led human resources, information technology and facilities at Senseonics. Prior to that, held leadership roles at Sucampo Pharmaceuticals and MedImmune. Prior to joining Aurinia, Schulman led corporate communications and investor relations at Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and before that, held positions of increasing responsibility at CuraGen Corp.
OncoCell MDx – Michigan-based OncoCell tapped Kirk Wojno as its new CMO. Wojno is a nationally renowned pathology expert in prostate cancer. He is the former head of Urologic Pathology at the University of Michigan, at Ascension Health System, and at national Ameripath Laboratories.
Relay Therapeutics -- Douglas S. Ingram and Deep Nishar were named to the board of directors of Cambridge, Mass.-based Relay Therapeutics. Ingram is president and CEO of Sarepta Therapeutics and brings to Relay Therapeutics a wealth of experience, having spent more than 20 years in executive and operational roles across the biotech and pharma industry. Prior to Sarepta, he served as CEO of Chase Pharmaceuticals Corporation, and before that was at Allergan from 2001 until it was acquired by Actavis in 2015. Nishar is currently a senior managing partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers, where some of his representative investments include Guardant Health, Vir, Zymergen, 10X Genomics, Collective Health and Slack.
Karus Therapeutics – Hilary McElwaine-Johnn was named CMO of U.K.-based Karus Therapeutics. McElwaine-Johnn is a physician with over 25 years’ experience in drug development, most recently as CMO at cancer gene therapy company PsiOxus. Prior to PsiOxus she was CMO at Vantia Therapeutics and head of clinical at PowderMed.
Huntsworth PLC -- Helen Apostolidis was named chief talent officer at London-based Hunstsworth. Prior to joining Huntsworth, Apostolidis held previous positions at Publicis Health Communications and WPP’s Red Fuse Communications Group.
