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, Zoey Becker, or Will Maddox and it will be featured here at the end of each week.
Idorsia locks in new CEO after shakeup
Idorsia
After Idorsia’s former chief, Srishti Gupta, M.D., left the company upon “mutual agreement” in March, the Swiss drugmaker has now tapped a new leader, Roland Wandeler, Ph.D. Wandeler will officially take over from interim CEO and board chairman Jean-Paul Clozel, M.D., come October 1 and was selected after a comprehensive global search that focused on finding a leader with a “long-term focus” and a “pragmatic, hands-on approach,” according to Idorsia. He joins the company from Grifols, where he serves as the company’s president of biopharma. Before that, the executive held C-suite roles at MorphoSys after a 14-year tenure at Amgen earlier in his career.
Along with the new CEO, Idorsia also welcomed Begoña Carreño-Gómez on board as chief business development officer and added two roles to its executive leadership team with president of Europe and international markets Benjamin Limal, plus Dominique Le Terrier in the newly created role of head of global commercial strategy and new product planning. Release
NovaBridge nabs short-lived Idorsia chief as new CEO
NovaBridge BioSciences
Srishti Gupta, M.D., has found a new home after stepping down from her CEO role at Swiss drugmaker Idorsia just nine months into the job. Last month, Maryland-based NovaBridge Biosciences announced that Gupta will join the company as CEO and a member of its board of directors.
NovaBridge is less than a year into its own transition after rebranding from I-Mab Biopharma, which divested its China operations and became a U.S.-based biotech in 2023. The new name accompanied a new strategy that positions the company as the center of a hub-and-spoke model, with each spoke representing a subsidiary focused on a specific asset.
Gupta will succeed Xi-Yong Fu, Ph.D., who is stepping down and will continue to support the company in an advisory capacity during the transition. A physician and former McKinsey consultant, Gupta will focus on advancing the gastrointestinal cancer antibody givastomig toward registration and expanding the company's ophthalmology franchise under Visara. Release
Muna scoops former iTeos CEO as new leader
Muna Therapeutics
With a TREM2 agonist on track to begin phase 2 testing in early Alzheimer's patients in early 2027, Muna Therapeutics is welcoming a new CEO to lead the way. Former iTeos President and CEO Michel Detheux, Ph.D., is stepping in as the new CEO, while Rita Balice-Gordon, Ph.D., will step down and join the board of directors. Under the leadership of Balice-Gordon, Muna leveled up to a clinical-stage company focused on neurodegenerative diseases. Detheux brings more than 30 years of expertise in leading biotechs to the table. He served as the founder, president, and CEO of iTeos until the company shut down a little over a year ago.
"Rita and the team have built a platform and pipeline unlike anything else in neurodegeneration," Detheux said in Muna’s release. " I am honored to take the helm at this moment and work alongside the team to advance Muna's promising pipeline for people living with neurodegenerative diseases." Release
> As it preps for a phase 2 eye disease trial, Exonate has named Novartis and UCB vet Olav Hellebø as its new CEO. Release
> ARS Pharmaceuticals co-founder Richard Lowenthal is stepping down from the top leadership spot, with the company’s president Donn Casale replacing him as CEO. Release
> Cancer-focused Aveo Pharmaceuticals is bidding adieu to retiring longtime president and CEO Michael Bailey, with Chief Commercial Officer Michael Ferraresso appointed his successor. Release
> Annovis Bio promoted R&D senior vice president Cheng Fang, Ph.D., to chief scientific officer as the biotech looks ahead to a key phase 3 Alzheimer’s disease readout. Release
> Immuno-oncology outfit Xilio Therapeutics has a new chief legal officer in Ben Harshbarger, who held the same role at Astria Therapeutics before its buyout by BioCryst. Release
> Leonardo Viana Nicacio, M.D, has resigned from his post as chief medical officer at Protara Therapeutics to take on the same role at Corbus Pharmaceuticals, with his Protara duties being taken up by Lead Medical Director and Head of Clinical Development Carla Beckham, M.D. Filing & Release
> Vijay Kumar, the acting head of the FDA office that oversees new gene therapies, stepped down from his role after a year on the job. Story
> Rigel Pharmaceuticals appointed previous member of the board, Alison Hannah, M.D., to CMO, the same role she previously held at CytomX Therapeutics. Release
> Swiss precision biologics company Anaveon has promoted immunology head Laetitia Pouzol, Ph.D., to chief scientific officer, where she succeeds interim CSO Eric Zanelli, Ph.D. Release
> Ian McCaffery is leaving a six-year tenure at AbbVie to lead translational science and early clinical development at Xaira Therapeutics as SVP, while Xaira’s Ci Chu, Ph.D., and Bo Wang, Ph.D., earned promotions to chief discovery officer and chief AI scientist, respectively. Release
> Halozyme Therapeutics is waving goodbye to chief operating officer Cortney Caudill as it restructures its management team, placing former chief financial officer David Ramsay in the newly created position of president, drug delivery. Filing & Release
> Oncology-focused Stipple Bio has a new chief business officer in Roland Gendron, who joins from a 25-year industry career, including most recently GenMab’s Merus. Release
> Pfizer’s ex-chief scientific officer and head of R&D Mikael Dolsten, M.D., Ph.D., is stepping up his board of directors’ presence at AI software company BenchSci, taking up the company’s first board chairman role. Release
> Neuro-focused Ovid Therapeutics has named Kevin Norrett as chief business officer to lead its corporate development efforts and promoted Charles Carter from senior vice president to chief financial officer. Release
> Commercial-stage biotech Vera Therapeutics announced the planned transition of Chief Regulatory Officer William Turner to a special advisor role for the company and will replace him with Nancy Boman, M.D., Ph.D., former CRO at Kyverna Therapeutics. Release
> Torsten Woehr has been named CEO of contract development and manufacturing organization Rentschler Biopharma. He will assume the role in August and previously served as chief commercial officer of Bachem Group. Release