Welcome to this week's Chutes and Ladders, our roundup of hirings and retirings throughout the industry. Please send the good word--or the bad--from your shop to Michael Gibney (email | Twitter) or Amirah Al Idrus (email | Twitter), and we will feature it here at the end of each week.
Tal Zaks lands at Moderna as CMO |
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Dr. Tal Zaks, who was among the 100 oncology researchers who were cut from Sanofi ($SNY) last month, landed at Moderna Therapeutics this week as chief medical officer. Before being axed, Zaks led the global oncology effort at Sanofi, but the program never reached the success it sought. Soon after former Sanofi CEO Chris Viehbacher was ousted, R&D chief Elias Zerhouni triggered the revamp, folding the cancer drug R&D outfit into the global group. Moderna, one of the fastest growing biotechs in the business, has banked close to $1 billion in venture and partnering cash since its launch four years ago. Zaks joins as Moderna is adding about 100 new researchers. "I think my biggest challenge will be to help Moderna and its ecosystem of partners and ventures translate disruptive science with very broad biological applicability into a stream of new medicines, and to do so at a pace that recognizes the urgency of unmet patient needs," he wrote in an email to FierceBiotech. Story | Release
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