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.
WuXi AppTec welcomes vet of Celgene's troubled cell therapy program to CAR-T leadership role
WuXi AppTec
David Chang, Ph.D., will be CEO at WuXi Advanced Therapies.
Chang, a veteran of Celgene's CAR-T manufacturing team, will lead Wuxi AppTec's cell and gene therapy-focused CDMO, WuXi Advanced Therapies. Chang most recently worked as corporate vice president and head of cell therapy global manufacturing at Celgene—which was acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb in late 2019—where he oversaw the company's CAR-T production network, WuXi said. One of those CAR-T offerings, Bristol's ide-cel (bb2121), was sent back to the drawing board in May after the FDA refused to review its submission based on slim manufacturing details in its filing. Before Celgene, Chang was employed as global head of engineering and strategy at Roche after a turn as vice president and site head for Roche Shanghai Technical Operations. FiercePharma
Sanofi loses vaccines chief Loew to Ipsen amid global attention on its COVID-19 project
Ipsen
David Loew will take over as CEO.
Loew, who has been leading vaccines unit Sanofi Pasteur since mid-2016, is jumping ship to fellow French drugmaker Ipsen as CEO, taking over from former chief executive David Meek, who is now CEO of Ferring Pharmaceuticals’ gene therapy spinout FerGene. Thomas Triomphe, who joined Sanofi Pasteur in 2004 and currently serves as the unit’s head of franchises and product strategy, will take his place.There are no details on Loew's departure, but Sanofi consumer health head Alan Main is also vacating his role, and the company put in altogether four new leaders. Loew spent 21 years at Roche before joining Sanofi in July 2013, and, during his tenure as Sanofi Pasteur chief, he helped the company weather the ill-fated Dengvaxia safety controversy. FiercePharma
Spectrum Pharma nabs Five Prime, Gilead veteran as new clinical lead
Spectrum Pharmaceuticals
Lyndah Dreiling, M.D.,will join as senior VP of clinical development.
Dreiling becomes the biotech’s new senior vice president of clinical development, swapping the almost identical role she had at Five Prime. Dreiling, who also had stints at Gilead Sciences and Amgen, will now help the company with its clinical work as it preps for a potential approval of Rolontis (eflapegrastim), which has a PDUFA date in October for patients with chemotherapy-induced neutropenia. It’s also working on another cancer drug, EGFR inhibitor poziotinib, although this has not had the smoothest path. Late last year, Spectrum revealed data showing its med failed to meet its primary endpoint in the first cohort of participants in a midstage trial testing the drug in non-small cell lung cancer harboring EGFR exon 20 mutations. FierceBiotech
> GlaxoSmithKline veteran Cedrik Britten, M.D., has been appointed as Immatics' new CMO to help run its adoptive cell therapy and T-cell receptor bispecifics platform, which is focused on various solid tumors. This platform has seen it pen a series of collaborations in recent years, leveraging its pool of around 200 targets to land deals with Amgen, Celgene and Genmab. FierceBiotech
> Gilead Sciences is tapping long-term Stanford University researcher Mark Genovese, M.D., to lead its nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, fibrosis and arthritis pipeline programs. Genovese has spent more than two decades at Stanford, most recently as the James W. Raitt Professor of Medicine and clinical chief in the division of immunology and rheumatology. FierceBiotech
> Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania-based SwanBio Therapeutics has named Steven Zelenkofske as CMO. Zelenkofske has held leadership positions at Regado Biosciences, Astra-Zeneca, Sanofi-Aventis, Boston Scientific and Novartis. Release
> South San Francisco, California-based Aligos Therapeutics has tapped Lesley Ann Calhoun as CFO. Calhoun most recently served as senior VP of finance and administration as well as chief accounting officer at Global Blood Therapeutics.
> Celyad has promoted David Gilham, Ph.D., to CSO and Peggy Sotiropoulou, Ph.D., to head of R&D.
> New York-based Cytovia Therapeutics has named Wei Li, Ph.D., as acting CSO. Li was most recently CDO at OliX Pharmaceuticals and previously served as executive VP of product development at Boston Biomedical.
> San Francisco-based Angion Biomedica Corp. has tapped Jennifer J. Rhodes as senior VP, general counsel, chief compliance officer and corporate secretary. Rhodes most recently served as general counsel and corporate secretary for Adamas Pharmaceuticals.
> IFM Therapeutics has appointed Maegan E. Deare as VP of legal and Christopher M. Lindblom as VP of finance. Release
> Jersey City, New Jersey-based Scynexis has appointed Jim Maffezzoli as VP of marketing and sales. Maffezzoli most recently served as senior VP of marketing at women’s health company Viveve Medical. Release
> New York-based Prevail Therapeutics has named Kira Schwartz, J.D., as the company’s general counsel. Schwartz most recently served as senior VP, associate general counsel and assistant secretary at Allergan. Release
> H.E.L Group H.E.L Group has appointed GE Healthcare commercial executive Mert Sahin as general manager and senior VP of North American operations.