Denali names Carole Ho its head of development

Chutes and Ladders

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 Eric Sagonowsky (email) or Amirah Al Idrus (email | Twitter), and we will feature it here at the end of each week.

Denali names Dr. Carole Ho its head of development

Denali Therapeutics
Dr. Carole Ho was named R&D head.

The Genentech vets behind South San Francisco-based Denali Therapeutics have recruited one of their former colleagues to join them as CMO and head of development. Denali announced this week that Dr. Carole Ho, former VP of early clinical development at Genentech, was tapped for the job. The company turned heads a few months ago when it announced a whopping $217 million round to back its work on neurodegenerative diseases. Ho brings more than a decade of drug development experience in multiple therapeutic areas--including neurology--to the role. "I am thrilled to join Denali's leadership team, to contribute to the company's focus on translational medicine and to advance its clinical pipeline," said Dr. Ho. "I share the team's conviction that the time is right to accelerate the development of drugs for patients suffering from neurodegenerative diseases." Release


Toshiba CEO resigns amid 'most damaging' scandal in company's history

Toshiba
CEO Hisao Tanaka resigned.

After an inquiry found that Toshiba CEO Hisao Tanaka was aware of the company's inflated profits from the last several years, the helmsman and several top executives departed from the Japanese conglomerate this week. An independent panel found that the company overstated operating profits by $1.2 billion over the past several years and that executives pressured business divisions to meet difficult targets. Tanaka, on his way out, told Reuters the scandal is "the most damaging event for our brand in the company's 140-year history." He added: "I don't think these problems can be overcome overnight." Story


Sorrento exec George Uy quits to head unnamed startup

Sorrento Therapeutics
George Uy announced he's leaving the company.

George Uy, executive vice president and chief commercial officer at Sorrento ($SRNE), announced his intention to leave the company at the end of July to join a startup as CEO. He'll continue to provide strategic advice to Sorrento as a consultant beginning Aug. 1. During Uy's tenure at Sorrento, the company saw the uplisting of its common stock to Nasdaq, capital raises and multiple strategic partnerships and acquisitions. "We regret George's departure, but wish him the best in his position as CEO of a new venture," said Henry Ji, president and chief executive officer at Sorrento. "We thank George for all his past contributions and look forward to his continued involvement as our strategic advisor." Release


Eli Lilly is expanding its R&D ops in San Diego, adding 130 researchers. Story

Novartis' Sandoz is closing three plants, cutting about 770 jobs in the process. Story

Drugmakers like Gilead, Mylan and Novo--not Big Pharma--are job creators. Story


Biotech

> Cancer Prevention Pharmaceuticals appointed Jon Saxe to its board of directors. Release

> STAAR Surgical Company ($STAA) named Dr. Jon Hayashida as vice president of global clinical and medical affairs. Release

> Matinas BioPharma appointed David Perlin to its scientific advisory board. Release

> Novogen ($NVGN) named Iain Ross as acting CEO and reappointed him to the board of directors. Release

> Alcresta appointed Dr. Russell Clayton as chief medical officer. Release

> Christopher LeMasters joins Promosome as CEO. Release

> Inotek Pharma ($ITEK) appointed Dr. Cadmus Collins Rich as vice president of medical affairs and clinical development. Release

> Ignyta ($RXDX) named Bernard Parker as chief commercial officer. Release

> Dr. Carl Bjartmar joins Wilson Therapeutics as chief medical officer. Release

> Voyager Therapeutics appointed Michael Higgins to its board of directors. Release

> Proteon Therapeutics ($PRTO) added Scott Canute to its board of directors. Release

> BioQuiddity appointed Daniel Tasse to its board of directors. Release

> Dr. Timothy Franson joins Paratek Pharma's board of directors. Release

> Intercept Pharma ($ICPT) named Richard Kim as senior vice president, commercial head of U.S. Release

> Izun Pharma appointed Jack Talley as CEO. Release

> Tonix Pharma ($TNPX) appointed Mark Edgar as senior vice president of product development. Release

> Zosano Pharma ($ZSAN) hired Donald Kellerman as vice president of clinical development, David Zhang as executive director of biostatistics and data management and Jacquie Mardell as senior director of clinical operations. Release (PDF)

> FORMA Therapeutics appointed Dr. John Hohneker, formerly of Novartis ($NVS), as executive vice president and head of research and development. Release

> RaNA Therapeutics added Dr. Joshua Resnick to its board of directors. Release

> RRD International hired Dr. Ulrich Thienel as its chief development and medical officer. Release

> Trevena appointed Yacoub Habib as its senior vice president of business development and corporate planning. Release

> Etubics named Dr. Thomas Caskey to its board of directors and Drs. Jerome Zeldis and Slobodan Paessler to its scientific advisory board. Release

> Applied Proteomics appointed Robert Verfurth as its vice president of sales. Release

> Inotek Pharmaceuticals ($ITEK) appointed Claudine Prowse as its vice president of strategy and its investor relations officer. Release

> Oxigene ($OXGN) brought on Matthew Loar as its chief financial officer. Release

> Julian Gangolli joined GW Pharma's board of directors. Release

> Hanger hired Scott Ranson as its new chief information officer. Release

> David Berman joined MedImmune as its head of oncology. Release

Pharma

> The Generic Pharmaceutical Association named Chester Davis Jr. as its president and CEO to replace the outgoing Ralph Neas. Release

Med Tech

> Avery Biomedical Devices appointed Neil Grossman as director of sales. Release

> Titan Spine appointed Jim Sevey as the company's senior nanotechnology specialist. Release

> Toshiba America Medical Systems named Satrajit Misra as vice president of marketing. Release

> HeartFlow hired Phil Mui to its product and engineering team. Release

> iRhythm Technologies appointed Marga Ortigas-Wedekind as its executive vice president of global marketing. Release

Biotech IT

> GenoSpace expanded its business advisory board, adding Brian Schmidt, Rebecca Kaiser and Thomas Naughton. Release

Diagnostics

> Dr. Geoffrey Ginsburg joins Alere's ($ALR) board of directors. Release

> Illumina ($ILMN) named Sanjay Chikarmane its senior vice president and general manager of enterprise informatics. Release

Animal Health

> Henry Schein promoted Peter McCarthy to the role of president of its global animal health group. Release