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.
Flagship vet plants CEO roots at Pharming
Pharming Group

Rare disease drug maker Pharming Group is calling off the search for a CEO successor to longtime chief Sijmen de Vries after landing on Fabrice Chouraqui. Chouraqui was most recently a CEO-partner at Flagship Pioneering and previously served as president of Novartis Pharmaceuticals USA, where he was credited with creating a new collaborative company culture. Before Novartis, the exec spent 10 years in various positions at Bristol Myers Squibb. Pharming’s CEO nomination is pending shareholder approval. De Vries, who has been at the helm since 2008, will resign from the board of directors but remain a strategic adviser through the end of the year. Release
Kyverna corrals Lilly clinical development vet
Kyverna Therapeutics
As Kyverna Therapeutics advances its lead CAR-T cell therapy into late-stage development, it’s bringing experienced clinical development leader Naji Gehchan, M.D., on board to guide the way as chief medical and development officer. Gehchan previously spent 16 years at Eli Lilly, most recently as head of clinical development for breast cancer treatment imlunestrant. Kyverna’s founding CEO Dominic Borie, M.D., Ph.D., who had been serving as president of research and development, will transition to a strategic adviser to the CEO and board. Gehchan will oversee cell therapy KYV-101’s development for the rare disease stiff-person syndrome, which famously afflicts singer Céline Dion. Release
Former Amgen exec is off to Arcus
Arcus Biosciences
Amgen vet Richard Markus, M.D., Ph.D., is taking over Arcus’ chief medical officer spot to replace the outgoing Dimitry Nuyten, M.D., Ph.D., who is departing at the end of January to pursue other opportunities. Markus is well positioned to oversee Arcus’ pipeline of late-stage assets, having spent 13 years at Amgen, including as vice president of global development. He most recently served as founder, president and CEO of oncology ADC company Dantari. Release
> Radiopharmaceutical drugmaker ARTBIO added a chief legal officer to the team with Nikki Hadas, who most recently held the same role at Akebia Therapeutics. Release
> Experienced executive Gary Shangold, M.D., will immediately take over Biodexa’s chief medical officer spot, which was previously held by Dmitry Zamoryakhin, M.D. Release
> Nurix Therapeutics selected John Northcott, whose experience commercializing BTK inhibitors aligns with Nurix’s focus, as its new chief commercial officer. Release
> Mike Molloy, Ph.D., has joined immune-focused Radiant Bio as a senior director of research. LinkedIn
> Pliant Therapeutics is going after fibrotic diseases with the help of new Chief Technical Officer Delphine Imbert, Ph.D., who previously served in leadership at Chinook Therapeutics (acquired by Novartis). Release