New chief takes helm at Promedior and steers a course for Boston

Just a couple of months after Promedior lined up its $21.5 million D round for fibrosis drug work, a new CEO has stepped up to the helm with plans to abandon Philadelphia and head for the bustling biotech hub in Boston. 

"I think it's just a time of change generally," newly named CEO Suzanne Bruhn tells FierceBiotech. "After the closing of the Series D, it's a nice, well financed company for the future, moving to later stage clinical trials. The decision was made to transition to a more product-focused company." 

Bruhn had been senior vice president, strategic planning and program management for Shire's Human Genetic Therapies division. She replaces Dominick Colangelo, who left the small biotech in the proverbial pursuit of "other opportunities."

Promedior has an early-stage study under way for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. And there's a mid-stage trial being planned for myelofibrosis, currently slated to get under way early next year. Bruhn says she hasn't yet decided where to move to in the Cambridge/Boston area.

Like a lot of early-stage biotechs, Promedior has always aimed at keeping the staff small, relying on outsourcing much of the work to vendors. The company's payroll has stayed consistently at about a dozen. Bruhn says the company may expand on that a little, but not a lot. And she adds Promedior will be hiring in Boston, though she adds that staffers in Philadelphia are still mulling over the prospect of moving.

- here's the press release