Pfizer is laying down new pieces for its leadership team structure, selecting Jeffrey Legos, Ph.D., to replace interim Chief Oncology Officer Roger Dansey, M.D.
As head of oncology, Legos will guide the New York pharma’s cancer R&D, ranging from preclinical to late-stage clinical work, according to a Feb. 5 postmarket release.
Legos joins the Big Pharma from Novartis, where he served as executive vice president and global head of oncology and hematology development. Before that, Legos held various leadership roles at GSK.
Legos is taking the reins from Dansey, who is retiring. Dansey had joined Pfizer after the $43 billion Seagen acquisition in 2023 and previously served as the antibody-drug conjugate specialist’s chief medical officer and interim CEO. He then stepped on as Pfizer’s chief development officer until being tapped for the interim oncology role Jan. 1 of this year.
Dansey took over the interim role from Pfizer’s former R&D head and Chief Scientific Officer Mikael Dolsten, M.D., Ph.D., who retired in November, triggering a domino effect of leadership changes. Chief Oncology Officer and Executive Vice President Chris Boshoff, M.D., Ph.D., took on Dolsten’s position at the start of 2025, with Dansey stepping into Boshoff’s old role.
Now, Legos will report to Boshoff, representing Pfizer’s R&D work in oncology.
Pfizer overhauled its leadership team after the Seagen acquisition in December 2023, with the chief oncology officer role encompassing both cancer R&D and commercialization at the time. Now, it appears that the commercialization responsibilities of the role have been removed.
In mid-2024, the commercial president of Pfizer’s oncology unit Suneet Varma announced his retirement after 15 years with the pharma. Varma was replaced by Tina Deignan, Ph.D., who most recently served as senior VP of Novartis’ U.S. oncology business.
The leadership announcement comes days after Pfizer announced that it was ending development for a B7-H4-directed ADC picked up from Seagen, which prompted a $1 billion impairment charge.
The asset was “unlikely to achieve a meaningful improvement over standard-of-care chemotherapy in patients with advanced solid tumors, including triple-negative breast cancer," a Pfizer spokesperson told Fierce Biotech earlier this week.
The pharma disclosed the blow alongside a $200 million charge linked to another ADC from Seagen.