Carrick Therapeutics is shifting its center of gravity toward the U.S. The Anglo-Irish cancer biotech has appointed ex-Tesaro CFO Tim Pearson to lead the company from its new site in Boston.
When Carrick broke cover with a $95 million (€83 million) series A round in 2016, founding CEO Elaine Sullivan said the goal was to build Europe’s leading oncology company. But the global distribution of money and talent has meant the U.S. has always played a big role in work toward that goal, from the involvement of Arch Venture Partners to the naming of ex-Celgene dealmaker George Golumbeski as chairman.
Carrick’s latest move will further dial up the importance of the U.S. to its prospects. Having worked to date out of facilities in Oxford, England and Dublin, Carrick is now opening a site in Boston that will house employees including its new CEO. Golumbeski explained the decision.
“The board of directors has made the decision to expand company operations in Boston to access U.S. capital markets and the tremendous talent pool to support the expected growth of Carrick. With this transition, we will continue operations in Dublin and the U.K., while adding new capabilities in Boston," Golumbeski said in a statement.
Setting up shop in Boston has enabled Carrick to snag a CEO with experience working in the C-suites of publicly-traded companies. Pearson joined Tesaro as CFO in 2014, two years after its IPO, and held the position up to the acquisition of the biotech by GlaxoSmithKline earlier this year.
Earlier in his career Pearson spent a spell as CFO of Catalyst Health Solutions, a publicly traded pharmacy benefit company, and 13 years at AstraZeneca’s MedImmune. Pearson ended up working as CFO of MedImmune.
Following the leadership transition, founding CEO Sullivan will continue to work for Carrick as executive entrepreneur and advisor to the board of directors.
Pearson will take control of a company with growing financial requirements. Carrick began a phase 1/2 trial of CDK7 inhibitor CT7001 in patients with advanced solid malignancies in 2017 and picked up clinical-phase thymidylate synthase inhibitor CT900 from BTG last year. The plan is to move CT900 into a pivotal program.