Chutes & Ladders: Biogen’s CEO is leaving as soon as a successor is found

 

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Welcome to this week's Chutes and Ladders, our roundup of hirings, firings and retirings throughout the industry. Please send the good word--or the bad--from your shop to Eric Sagonowsky (email) or Alyssa Huntley (email) and we will feature it here at the end of each week.

Biogen CEO George Scangos to step down

Biogen

Biogen’s CEO is leaving as soon as a successor is found

CEO George Scangos will step down from his position and leave Biogen. The company is searching for a successor already, as Scangos will be leaving in “coming months.” Scangos spent the last 6 years at the company, during which time he increased revenue, earnings and stock price. The board is considering both internal and external candidates and hopes to find a new CEO by the end of the year. Scangos will stay on as CEO until that successor is found. FierceBiotech


FDA’s Hall will join PatientsLikeMe in data science role

PatientsLikeMe
Marni Hall will take on PatientsLikeMe’s 12-year-old data set

Marni Hall will be stepping away from the FDA to join PatientsLikeMe. Her role will involve boosting PatientsLikeMe’s efforts toward a repository of patient-reported data that can be translated into tools to improve research and outcomes. Hall worked on data analysis and management at the FDA--a solid background to move into this new role--for the Office of Surveillance and Epidemiology. PatientsLikeMe has a 12-year-old data set that Hall will take on in this new role. FierceBiotechIT


Theranos brings on duo to right its wrongs

Dave Wurtz and Daniel Guggenheim will try to get the company on the up and up.

Theranos has brought on two industry execs to bring the company onto the straight and narrow. Dave Wurtz has been named VP of regulatory and quality, and Daniel Guggenheim will take on the chief compliance officer role. Theranos has most recently made headlines after a series of Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services sanctions against the Newark, CA, lab booted leader Elizabeth Holmes from operating the location for at least two years. Holmes is now infamous for the blood tests and tech she developed which have been found to often be inaccurate. Now it is up to Wurtz and Guggenheim to help right those wrongs. FierceMedicalDevices


Parexel on the hunt for a new CFO

Ingo Bank has resigned as CFO, pushing the company into an employee search

Parexel’s chief financial officer and senior vice president, Ingo Bank, has resigned from the company, according to an SEC filing. Bank has reportedly left “in order to take a senior leadership role in another company,” Parexel said. The company will begin to look for a permanent CFO soon, though Bank will stay on as an employee until mid-August to aid in the transition. Emma Reeve, the company’s corporate VP since 2014, will serve as interim CFO. FierceBiotech CRO


Pfizer is expanding its Dublin-based biologics manufacturing plant to boost capacity for Enbrel, which will add 350 jobs. FiercePharmaManufacturing


Pharma

> Douglas Boothe will step down from his position as EVP and general manager of Rx pharmaceuticals at Perrigo, and John Wesolowski, senior vice president of Rx commercial operations, will step in as acting general manager. Release

> Astellas has promoted John Demaree to VP of oncology marketing in the Americas region. Release

> William Heiden, CEO of AMAG Pharmaceuticals, has been named to the board of directors for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. Release

> Zafgen will lose Alicia Secor to Juniper Pharmaceuticals, where she will be president, CEO and a member of the board. Release

> Boston Pharmaceuticals has appointed Ian Sanderson to the chief financial officer role. Release

> Peakdale Molecular welcomes Christopher Doe as head of biology and Sascha Hartmann as business development manager for biology services. Release

Biotech

> Celgene’s EVP of corporate affairs and market access, Rich Bagger, is taking a leave of absence to work on the transition team for the Trump campaign. Release

> Taplmmune board member John Bonfiglio will become the company’s president and chief operating officer. Release

> Biostage is bringing on Harout DerSimonian as its chief scientific officer. Release

> Gerhard Koening will take on the CEO role at Quartet Medicine, a Pfizer- and Novartis-backed biotech startup. Release

> PhaseRx has appointed Dr. Gordon Brandt as chief medical officer. Release

> Devdatt Kurdikar has been named CEO at Cardiac Science. Release

> Bicycle Therapeutics has found a new chairman of the board in Dr. Stephen Hoffman. Release

> Geno Germano will join Sage’s board of directors. Release

> Gerry Feldman was named Medical Compression Systems’ CEO by the company’s board of directors. Release

> Carol Smith has been promoted to manager of quality at Hemispherx, which also managed to retain Dr. Joseph Horvath as a scientific adviser. Release

Biotech IT

> Certara has appointed Nathan Teuscher as VP of pharmacometric solutions. Release