Welcome to this week's Chutes & Ladders, our roundup of hirings, firings and retirings throughout the industry. Please send the good word—or the bad—from your shop to Conor Hale, and we will feature it here at the end of each week.
Gilead CMO to quit post 6 months after taking the job
Gilead Sciences
Andrew Cheng, M.D., Ph.D., will leave the company in September.
After 19 years at Gilead, and after being appointed CMO in March, Cheng's sudden departure will join exits by the Big Pharma's CEO, CSO and executive chairman over a nine-month period. Cheng started as leader of development-stage HIV programs in 1999. FierceBiotech
Allergan taps Pfizer oncology veteran as CMO for some crucial pipeline help
Allergan
Pfizer's Charles Hugh-Jones, M.D., was named senior VP and CMO.
Hugh-Jones, CMO of Pfizer's oncology unit, will start at Allergan this month as it aims to launch a number of new products in the coming years. He started at Pfizer 16 months ago after six years at Sanofi. Hugh-Jones is the second big exec loss for Pfizer Oncology this year, with its global president Liz Barrett, departing in January to become CEO of Novartis Oncology. FiercePharma
Reeling from Cohen scandal, Novartis recruits Siemens veteran as ethics chief
Novartis
Klaus Moosmayer starts as chief ethics, risk and compliance officer Dec. 1.
Previously chief compliance officer at Siemens, Moosmayer replaces Shannon Thyme Klinger, who was promoted to general counsel in May after Felix Ehrat resigned in the wake of a scandal involving Novartis' $1.2 million consulting deal with President Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen. Moosmayer had worked to clean up Siemens' act following a 2006 corruption scandal. In 2008, the German conglomerate paid American and European authorities $1.6 billion to settle bribery charges. FiercePharma
> Sigilon Therapeutics is bringing on Bioverativ’s chief global therapeutic operations officer, Rogerio Vivaldi, M.D., to serve as its CEO. Vivaldi takes the place of Paul Wotton, Ph.D., who plans to stay on as an adviser. FierceBiotech
> Pfizer alumnus Geno Germano was named CEO of Elucida Oncology, following a short stint at Intrexon. The Cornell spinout is developing tech to allow real-time visualization of tumors and associated lymph nodes, as well as nanoparticle conjugates designed to deliver drugs inside targeted cancer cells. FierceBiotech
> Steven Paul, M.D., was appointed CEO of Karuna Pharmaceuticals. The Sage and Voyager co-founder will be in charge of advancing a muscarinic agonist he worked on at Eli Lilly in the 1990s, which had run into safety issues. FierceBiotech
> Terumo BCT announced President and CEO David Perez will retire after nearly 20 years at the company. He will be succeeded by Antoinette Gawin, the company's executive global commercial VP, becoming president Oct. 1 and CEO April 1, 2019. FierceBiotech
> Evecxia officially named John Kaiser as its CEO and interim chairman of its board of directors. Kaiser had been working with the Duke University spinout’s management since March, as it develops a new serotonin precursor drug for depression. Kaiser previously served as interim CEO of Cerecor following its $45 million licensing deal with Johnson & Johnson. FierceBiotech
> Astellas promoted David Abbott to national VP for key account management. Abbott was previously senior director of key account management for the company's oncology business. Release
> Third Rock Ventures has named Steven Kafka, former president and chief operating officer of Foundation Medicine, as a new venture partner focusing on the formation of companies looking to discover and develop novel therapeutics. FierceBiotech
> Peloton Therapeutics appointed Alan Musso as chief financial officer, effective Sept. 4. He joins from Bellicum Pharmaceuticals where he served as CFO and treasurer. Before that he was CFO at Targacept and held positions at Osiris Therapeutics, Cato Research, Duramed Pharmaceuticals and Pfizer.
> Ekso Bionics named Jack Glenn as its chief financial officer, who will take over for Max Scheder-Bieschin. Glenn previously served as CFO at Sonendo, Armetheon, Solta Medical, Cholestech and Invivo Corp. Release
> Greg Rush and Michele Fournier have joined Parexel as CFO and chief human resources officer, respectively. Rush previously served as CFO of Syneos Health, while Fournier has served as interim chief human resources officer since January, after arriving at Parexel in 2014. Release
> Life sciences consultancy D2 Consuting brought on Cheryl Nagowski as senior director for federal markets. Previously, Nagowski helped manage national payer contracting for Genentech, and procurements for the Department of Defense. Release
> Roche is planning to lay off 223 staffers at Genentech's California headquarters as it braces a biosimilar assault on its blockbuster cancer drugs. FiercePharma
> GlaxoSmithKline’s announced it will close its skincare manufacturing plant in Sligo, Ireland, and lay off its 165 workers over the next three years. FiercePharma