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| Warp Drive Bio CEO Laurence Reid |
Warp Drive Bio, at work on high-tech therapeutics derived from nature, appointed biopharma veteran Laurence Reid as its new CEO, with ex-chief and Harvard luminary Greg Verdine pivoting to president and chief scientific officer. Reid is currently an entrepreneur in residence at Third Rock Ventures, the firm that gave Warp Drive its start in 2012, and before that spent years at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals ($ALNY) as chief business officer, presiding over partnerships with Sanofi ($SNY), Merck ($MRK) and the Medicines Company ($MDCO). Stepping in at Warp Drive, Reid takes the helm of a growing company using what it calls a genomic search engine to unlock the therapeutic potential of naturally occurring products. The biotech came on the scene with a $125 million co-sign from Sanofi and has spent the last three years building out its drug discovery platform, speeding toward clinical development. Verdine, a prolific chemist who took the CEO job in 2013, is sticking around to guide Warp Drive's scientific progress. More