Welcome to this week's Chutes & Ladders, our roundup of significant leadership hirings, firings and retirings across the industry. Please send the good word—or the bad—from your shop to Darren Incorvaia or Zoey Becker and it will be featured here at the end of each week.
AstraZeneca adds FDA cell and gene veteran
AstraZeneca
Longtime FDA leader Lola Fashoyin-Aje, M.D., is adapting to a new role at AstraZeneca as vice president and head of cell therapy regulatory science and strategy. Fashoyin-Aje is well-positioned to help the British pharma giant in this field, given she spent nearly 12 years at the FDA, with her tenure culminating in directing the clinical evaluation of cell and gene therapies. Before her stint at the Office of Clinical Evaluation, Fashoyin-Aje served as an associate director in the Oncology Center of Excellence. She got her start at the agency as a reviewer of applications for new solid tumor medicines. After departing the FDA in March 2025, a period of intense turnover at the regulator, she spent eight months as a regulatory leader at CRO Parexel before swinging over to AZ’s Maryland office.
“With a pipeline spanning hematology, solid tumors, autoimmune, and rare diseases–and both autologous and off-the-shelf approaches–we're building world-class regulatory capabilities to match the ambition and transformative potential of our cell therapy pipeline,” Fashoyin-Aje wrote on LinkedIn.
Corrixr founder passes baton to new CEO
Corrixr Therapeutics
Corrixr is flipping the page to a new chapter, welcoming a new CEO as it prepares to advance its lead squamous cell cancer asset through the clinic. Hilary Malone, Ph.D., is taking the baton at Corrixr from founder Eric Kmiec, Ph.D., who will stay on as chief scientific officer and remain “actively engaged” in the company’s scientific direction. Malone brings more than 25 years of executive leadership experience to the table after most recently serving as the CEO of Stylus Medicine, following a tenure as CEO at Certego Therapeutics before that and several appointments at various global pharmas earlier in her career. The new CEO looks to build out Corrixr to be the “defining company in eliminating squamous cell cancers,” pointing to the biotech’s “rigorous preclinical foundation, a differentiated mechanism and a clear path to the clinic.” Release
Capricor brings in DMD veteran to lead commercial launch
Capricor Therapeutics
Capricor Therapeutics has named Michael Maurer as chief commercial officer ahead of the company’s potential launch of deramiocel, its investigational cell therapy for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The transformative cell and exosome-based biotech plans to leverage Maurer’s decades of experience in disease commercialization, patient access and launch strategy.
Maurer previously held leadership roles at Amicus Therapeutics (now part of BioMarin), Sarepta Therapeutics and Bristol Myers Squibb and has led commercial initiatives for specialty medicines across neuromuscular disorders, neuroscience and immunology. While at Sarepta, he led the U.S. launch of Elevidys, an FDA-approved gene therapy for DMD and oversaw the commercial strategy for the company’s RNA therapies. Release
> Mass General Brigham preventive cardiologist Pradeep Natarajan, M.D., will be joining Amgen in August to oversee cardiometabolic research and human genetics. X
> Cocrystal Pharma has a shiny new CEO in James Sapirstein, who takes over for co-CEOs Sam Lee and Jim Martin, with Lee continuing as the company’s president and transitioning to its chief scientific officer role, while Martin is moving forward as chief financial officer. Release
> BeyondSpring is building up its leadership structure, tapping Min Qiu as its new CEO while founder Lan Huang, Ph.D., remains chairman but commits her time more fully to her co-founded SEED therapeutics. Release
> FundaMental Pharma has appointed Hans Eriksson, M.D., Ph.D., chief medical officer, to lead the development of the company’s preclinical treatment-resistant depression candidate. Release
> John McAdory has been named the new chief operating officer of Oncolytics, the cancer-focused immunotherapy company. He arrives after serving as chairman of Ambrx Biopharma during its acquisition by Johnson & Johnson. Release