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.
Perrigo CEO ousted over ‘personal conduct’
Perrigo Company
Over-the-counter drugmaker Perrigo Company is washing its hands of chief executive Patrick Lockwood-Taylor, who resigned from his post of president and CEO after the company’s board of directors found “certain personal conduct” by Lockwood-Taylor inconsistent with its code of conduct and “core values.” Board member Albert Manzone is stepping up to replace the CEO in the interim as the board searches for a permanent successor.
Lockwood-Taylor came to Perringo as CEO three years ago after a previous stint in leadership roles at Bayer. Before that, he spent 20 years overseeing various consumer health sectors at Procter & Gamble. The executive’s “personal conduct” that led to his departure did not involve Perringo’s business or strategy, the company emphasized.
“Perrigo's core values are foundational to how we operate, and the Board expects all colleagues – especially our senior leaders – to uphold those standards at all times,” board chair Orlando D. Ashford said, adding that the board has “full confidence” in Manzone. Release
Apnimed transitions board chair to CEO
Apnimed
After naming him chairman of the board last year, Apnimed has appointed Kevin Lind as its new CEO. He brings more than 25 years of biopharma experience to the role leading the company, which focuses on oral therapies for sleep-related breathing disorders. Lind most recently served as president and CEO of Longboard Pharmaceuticals, a company focused on rare neurological diseases that was acquired by Lundbeck for $2.6 billion in 2024. In a planned leadership transition, he will succeed Lawrence Miller, M.D., who has served as CEO since 2018.
Lind will help lead the potential commercialization of Apnimed’s lead asset, a once-daily oral treatment and selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor for obstructive sleep apnea. The candidate, AD109, has completed phase 3 trials and is currently in the regulatory phase of development. Release
Poxel names CEO after debt default
Poxel
French biopharma company Poxel has appointed Yves Decadt as its new chief executive officer following a planned leadership transition in which he was supported by former CEO Nicolas Trouche as part of the company’s restructuring plan. The plan was approved in January after the company entered judicial receivership following debt defaults. Decadt worked with the Poxel team as a consultant and led a strategic review of the company’s portfolio, which formed the basis of the restructuring plan presented to creditors and the court.
With more than 20 years of experience in international business development at Johnson & Johnson, Decadt will focus on partnership discussions to commercialize the company’s type 2 diabetes treatment, Imeglimin, outside Japan, particularly in China and other Asian markets. He will also oversee the development of PXL065 for the treatment of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis. Release
> Karim Dabbagh, Ph.D., is traversing from his CEO gig at Silver Creek Pharmaceuticals to the same role at Dualitas Therapeutics, where he relieves interim chief Rich Murray, Ph.D. Release
> Genovyn is stepping up its AI-powered drug discovery prowess with two industry vets joining the team, in chief scientific officer Sammy Bell, Ph.D. and chief development officer Jim Edinger, Ph.D. Release
> Jae B. Kim, M.D., is adding another chief medical officer title to his resume with his new appointment at Protego Biopharma, which he joins from his previous CMO role at Septerna. Release
> Australia-based AdvanCell is building out its U.S. leadership team with Eli Lilly vet Justyna Kelly stepping in as chief technology officer and François Gaudet, Ph.D., taking over Simon Puttick’s role as chief scientific officer while Puttick transitions to the chief isotype development officer slot instead. Release
> Merck KGaA tapped Clara Sattler de Sousa e Brito to lead early-stage discovery as head of discovery solutions, while Robert Machinek was chosen to head up strategy and business development at its North American life science arm, MilliporeSigma. Release
> Bayer is adding extra force to its consumer health operations, welcoming Samantha Avivi as the business sector’s chief marketing officer, Analia de la Fuente as its chief data officer and David Tomasi as chief commercial officer, while Trevor Thrun is taking the reins as president of Bayer’s U.S. consumer health sector. Release
> Lakefront Biotherapeutics’ Eric Hendrick, M.D., is climbing the ranks to the chief medical officer role after joining the team in 2025 as a clinical evaluation lead for new pipeline opportunities, which the company found in its recently acquired Ouro Medicines assets. Release
> Adam Gridley will be the new CEO of Vergent Bioscience as current CEO John Santini, Ph.D., transitions to the role of chief technology officer. Gridley previously served as CEO of Allay Therapeutics, Entera Bio and Histogenics. Release
> Gabriel Fox has joined oncology-focused PhoreMost as consulting chief medical officer, where he will lead the clinical development of PMC-001, a small-molecule microtubule-targeting agent for the treatment of primary and secondary brain cancers. Release
> BigHat Biosciences has appointed Stefan Weigand, Ph.D., as chief science officer, where he will help lead the company’s AI-integrated drug discovery platform across multiple therapeutic programs. Release
> Oriva Therapeutics, which focuses on women’s health treatments, has named Agnès Arbat as chief executive officer. With more than 25 years of experience in the biopharma industry, she has played a key role in the launch of more than 10 products, including Nexplanon, Xarelto and Ventavis. Release
> Hubert Chen, M.D., is the new chief medical officer of Viking Therapeutics. He brings more than two decades of experience in drug discovery, clinical development, regulatory strategy and product approvals across multiple therapeutic areas. Release