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 Kyle Blankenship, and we will feature it here at the end of each week.
After Bind bankruptcy, Hirsch once again helms a biotech, landing at C4
C4 Therapeutics
Andrew Hirsch will take over as CEO.
Hirsch will take the helm at C4 Therapeutics, a quiet biotech working on disease-causing proteins for a range of diseases including cancer and neurodegenerative conditions. Marc Cohen, co-founder of C4 and its interim CEO, will step down as chief but remain as executive chairman of the company. While some of the details of C4’s work on specific targets and the like have been kept close to the chest, the former Fierce 15 winner has formed collaborations with Roche, Calico and most recently Biogen—with a deal inked last January totaling up to $415 million for research into neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Fierce Biotech
Lumen hires Spigarelli as CMO to lead infectious disease pipeline work
Lumen Bioscience
Mike Spigarelli, M.D., Ph.D., will join as CMO.
Spigarelli comes to the biotech from Immucor, which works on transfusion and transplantation diagnostic products, where he was its vice president of medical affairs. He now switches gears and will lead Lumen’s pipeline, which includes experimental biologics for traveler’s diarrhea, norovirus and Clostridium difficile infection. Its more advanced drug, LMN-101, recently finished off a phase 1 safety and dose-escalation trial in traveler's diarrhea, with midstage tests planned for next year. Fierce Biotech
Spruce taps Indivior veteran Dias to chief medical role
Spruce Biosciences
Rosh Dias, M.D., will join in the CMO role.
Dias joins Spruce most recently from Indivior, where he was the chief medical officer for the past year. Prior to Indivior, Dias held tenures at both Amgen, where he was VP of global scientific affairs, and Novartis. Spruce also appointed Dan Spiegelman to its board of directors. Spiegelman previously served as executive VP and chief financial officer at BioMarin. Release
> San Francisco-based Olema Oncology is boosting its executive team with the appointments of: Shane Kovacs as chief operations/financial officer; Kinney Horn as chief business officer; and John B. Moriarty as executive VP and chief legal officer. In addition, Pamela Klein, M.D., will serve as Olema’s chief medical officer, and David Myles, Ph.D., has been promoted to chief development officer. Release (PDF)
> Black Diamond Therapeutics has named Rachel Humphrey, M.D., as CMO. Karsten Witt, M.D., who has been senior VP of clinical development and acting CMO since May 2019, will continue on as senior VP of non-clinical development. Humphrey joins from CytomX Therapeutics, where she served as CMO and as a member of its board of directors. Release
> New York-based Phosplatin Therapeutics has tapped Joseph F. O’Donnell, M.D., as interim chief medical officer, and Jason Summa as VP of clinical development. Release
> Cambridge, Massachusetts-based eGenesis has named Michael Curtis, Ph.D., as president of R&D. Curtis will succeed William (Wes) Westlin, Ph.D., who has been appointed CSO. Release
> Gaithersburg, Maryland-based MaxCyte has appointed Amanda L. Murphy as chief financial officer. Ron Holtz, who has served as MaxCyte’s CFO since 2005, will become senior VP and chief accounting officer. Release
> Philadelphia-based Tmunity Therapeutics has named Vijay Reddy, M.D., as chief research and development officer and Simona King as chief financial officer. Release
> Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Sherlock Biosciences has tapped Martin Madaus, Ph.D., as chief operations officer. Madaus most recently served as interim CEO and executive chairman at Ultivue and Emulate Bio. Release
> San Diego-based Aegis Life has named Hong Jiang, Ph.D., as its chief operating officer. Release
> ReCode Therapeutics is fleshing out its executive team with the appointments of Mukul Agarwal as chief business officer and Vladimir G. Kharitonov, Ph.D., as senior VP of chemistry, manufacturing and controls. ReCode has also promoted Brandon A. Wustman, Ph.D., to the role of senior VP of R&D. Release
> Sensyne Health has tapped Michael Macdonnell as chief operating officer, effective Sept. 28.
> Columbia, Maryland-based Welldoc is expanding its leadership team with the hirings of Keith Reynolds as chief operating officer, David Driscoll as chief revenue officer and Linda Piazza as senior VP of sales. Release
> U.K. venture capital firm SV Health Investors has named Alex Badamchi-Zadeh, Ph.D., as senior associate. Release