Companies strengthen their leadership teams and boards of directors with these appointments.
Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) – After 14 years as head of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, Jim Greenwood announced plans to step down from his role following the 2020 elections. During his tenure with BIO, Greenwood has been a champion for innovation within the pharmaceutical industry, as well as diversity in the leadership structures of companies. Greenwood joined BIO in 2005 as its second president and CEO following the retirement of Carl Feldbaum, BIO’s founding president. As head of BIO, Greenwood established the organization as a pragmatic voice in the halls of government and cultivated bipartisan support for the drug industry. He also led industry PDFUA negotiations with Congress to promote patient-centered drug development, and he was a driving force behind the establishment of a biosimilars industry to create more affordable biologic drugs once patents expire. Greenwood was instrumental in leading industry negotiations to help pass the 21st Century Cures Act, which approved expanded use of biomarkers, innovative clinical trials and real-world evidence in FDA scientific decisions.
QIAGEN – After 27 years with the company, Peer M. Schatz is stepping down from his role as chief executive officer of Netherlands-based QIAGEN. Schatz will remain with the company as a special adviser to the board. The transition into the new role is expected to occur over the next few weeks. The company’s supervisory board will begin a search for the next CEO. In the meantime, Thierry Bernard, head of Molecular Diagnostics Business Area, will act as interim CEO and work in tandem with Roland Sackers, the company’s chief financial officer. Schatz was one of the first employees of QIAGEN and since 1993 has shaped an entrepreneurial, global leader that has an omnipresent role in molecular biology, a fundamental scientific revolution that is rapidly changing the world. Under Peer Schatz’s leadership, QIAGEN grew from $2 million in sales in 1993 to the current level of about $1.6 billion.
Cue Biopharma – Cue Biopharma Chief Scientific Officer Anish Suri now adds the title president to his name. As president, Suri will assume operational and management oversight of corporate functions, as well as research and development activities. Prior to joining Cue Biopharma as CSO in July 2018, Suri held roles of increasing responsibility at Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies, including a key leadership position overseeing strategic Immunoscience initiatives. Prior to Janssen, he was responsible for providing strategic guidance to immuno-oncology and immunology drug discovery programs at Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute. Before that, Suri was assistant professor of pathology and immunology at Washington University School of Medicine.
BioElectronics– Andrew Whelan, founder and CEO of Maryland-based BioElectronics died suddenly this week. The BioElectronics management team will continue to manage day-to-day operations until a permanent replacement can be confirmed. Whelan founded BioElectronics to bring to market a breakthrough drug-free medical device, ActiPatch Therapy. ActiPatch is an analgesic device that also reduces inflammation and speeds healing.
PAREXEL – John Bell was named chief quality officer at Parexel. Bell began his career at the FARMOVS Research Centre in Bloemfontein, South Africa, which was later acquired by Parexel. He relocated to Berlin as head of Quality Management for Clinical Pharmacology before becoming vice president of Worldwide Head of Quality Management. He will be based at the company’s Durham, N.C. offices.
NBE Therapeutics – Steffen Heeger was named chief medical officer of Switzerland-based NBE Therapeutics AG. He will lead the clinical development of NBE-Therapeutics’ first lead iADC program NBE-002 targeting ROR1. Heeger held senior medical positions at Merck-Serono, MorphoSys and, most recently, as CMO at Selvita, Poland.
Ascletis – Novartis veteran Handan He was tapped as the new CSO of China-based Ascletis Pharma Inc. He was a former Global Head of Computational, Biopharmaceutics and Translational PK/PD at Novartis Pharmaceutical Corporation. Over the course of 22 years with the company, she managed scientific teams across Novartis global sites in the United States and Switzerland. He was a recipient of the 2009 Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business Award. In 2008, He received the highest Novartis Global VIVA Award (Vision, Innovation, Value, and Achievement Award) in recognition of her scientific contributions.
Nurix – San Francisco-based Nurix made some changes to its board of directors. Lori Kunkel and Julia Gregory, former president and CEO of Five Prime Therapeutics, joined Nurix’s board of directors. David Lacey, a director with the company, is now chairman. Kunkel joins Nurix Therapeutics after serving on the board of directors of Loxo Oncology, Inc. until the sale to Eli Lilly. She currently serves on the board of directors of Curis, Inc., Maverick Therapeutics, Inc., and Tocagen, Inc. She previously held positions of acting CMO at Loxo Oncology, CMO at Pharmacyclics, LLC, ACT, Syndax and Proteolix, Inc. as well as in senior clinical roles at Chiron, and Genentech. Gregory formerly served as president and CEO of Five Prime Therapeutics, CEO of ContraFect Corporation and as executive vice president, corporate development and CFO of Lexicon Pharmaceuticals. Gregory currently serves as chair and CEO of biotechnology financial and management advisory firm, Isometry Advisors, Inc.
BioMarin – California-based BioMarin named Lon Cardon to the newly created role of chief strategy officer. In this newly created leadership position, Cardon’s responsibilities expand beyond the Research functions at BioMarin and now include oversight of the company’s product portfolio. He will lead cross-functional activities to build our leadership position in precision medicine in support of patients with rare genetic diseases and drive long-term growth through the oversight of an exceptional pipeline of first- or best-in-class therapies. Previously, Cardon was senior vice president of Alternative Discovery and Development, and head of Target Sciences at GlaxoSmithKline. During his nine years at GSK, he led platform groups in genetics, statistics, bioinformatics, epidemiology and clinical pharmacology and created a new division for exploratory therapeutic areas and platforms, including rare diseases, gene therapy, ophthalmology, women’s health and others.
Gilead Sciences – Genentech veteran Merdad Parsey is the new CMO at Gilead Sciences, effective Nov. 1. Parsey will be responsible for the company’s global clinical development and medical affairs organizations. Parsey joins Gilead from Genentech where he currently holds the position of senior vice president of Early Clinical Development in the Genentech Research and Early Development group. Prior to Genentech, Parsey served as president and CEO of 3-V Biosciences. He has also held development roles at Sepracor, Regeneron and Merck, Inc. and has served as Assistant Professor of Medicine and Director of Critical Care Medicine at New York University School of Medicine.
Pharm-Olam – Houston-based Pharm-Olam named Robert Davie as its new CEO. Davie succeeds David Grange who has served as Pharm-Olam’s CEO since April 2017. Grange will remain a director and vice chairman of the company’s board and will continue to support the organization and its work in U.S. government-funded research, which is an expanding area of Pharm-Olam’s business. Davie previously held critical roles within Covance, most recently as vice president and general manager of global clinical development.
