Kristen Mulholland→ Kristen Mulholland will take over for the retiring Peter Fasolo as chief human resources officer at J&J on Oct. 1. “Peter has led J&J’s talent strategy for the past 16 years including remarkable leadership through the global pandemic and the separation of our consumer health business,” CEO Joaquin Duato said in a statement. “He leaves a legacy of strong leaders, deep bench strength and an inclusive, caring and patient-focused culture.”
Fasolo is a Bristol Myers Squibb HR vet who left J&J to become chief talent officer for KKR, only to return in 2010. Mulholland started at J&J in 2005 and has spent nearly five years as head of human resources, global total rewards & enterprise HR functions.
Sean Bruich→ Just do it: Amgen technology chief David Reese said in a LinkedIn post that the pharma giant has appointed Sean Bruich as SVP of artificial intelligence and data. Bruich moves into the pharma world after an 11-year run with Nike, where he vaulted to global VP, insights, data science & analytics. This is the second high-level AI hire by a major pharma in as many weeks — Pfizer just welcomed Berta Rodriguez-Hervas as its new chief AI and analytics officer.
Dhaval Patel→ In its biggest personnel news since Doug Williams’ resignation, Sana Biotechnology has poached Dhaval Patel from UCB as the Seattle biotech awaits data readouts for its CD19-targeted allogeneic CAR-T therapy in a host of indications. Patel had a 10-year career with Novartis before he held the CSO post at UCB for nearly seven years, and he’ll have the same responsibilities at Sana under CEO Steve Harr. Sana said in its second-quarter update that the goal is to reveal data for SC291 in B cell malignancies — and such autoimmune diseases as lupus nephritis, extrarenal lupus and ANCA-associated vasculitis — sometime this year. “His expertise in immunology and autoimmune diseases make[s] him ideally suited to help advance our clinical pipeline,” Harr said in a statement.
Brian Di Donato→ Brian Di Donato, the CFO and head of strategy at Immunocore since May 2020, is stepping down “at the end of the year” to take the CEO job at an unnamed San Diego biotech. Di Donato was the finance leader for Achillion when Alexion scooped it up for $930 million, and he’s also a board member at Jim Wilson joint iECURE, where ex-Achillion chief Joseph Truitt is CEO.
Raphael Ortiz→ Telix Pharmaceuticals has separated its business into four separate entities: Telix Therapeutics, Telix Precision Medicine (diagnostics), Telix Lightpoint (medtech, from its acquisition of Lightpoint Medical) and Telix Manufacturing Solutions. With these changes in place, Telix has tapped Richard Valeix as CEO of Telix Therapeutics, Kevin Richardson as Telix Precision Medicine’s chief executive, and Raphael Ortiz as CEO of Telix International. Christian Behrenbruch’s title has been slightly modified to group CEO. Telix had hoped to join the Nasdaq in June with an IPO around the $200 million mark, but the Melbourne biotech made a gametime decision to pull those plans.
Christian Howell→ Cambridge, MA-based neuro player Cognito Therapeutics has promoted Christian Howell to CEO. Brent Vaughan had been running Cognito since 2020 after co-founding and leading the autism diagnostic specialist Cognoa, and he hired Howell as his chief commercial officer last October. Howell had a long career with Medtronic and then joined Aetion, where he was elevated to SVP and general manager of the emerging channels group (medical device, diagnostics, digital health, and government) in April 2023.
Blaise Coleman→ Elsewhere, Endo is also losing its president and CEO Blaise Coleman. Board member Scott Hirsch will serve in the interim as the company searches for a permanent successor. Hirsch joined Endo’s board in April, around the same time that the company sued the FDA over its approval of a generic version of Endo’s drug Adrenalin. Hirsch is the former CEO of Solta Medical and also held the roles of president of Ortho Dermatologics and CBO of Bausch Health/Bausch + Lomb.
→ Thomas Bock has handed in his resignation as CEO of Notable Labs, and CSO Joseph Wagner will take over the top spot on an interim basis. This isn’t uncharted territory for Wagner: He’s the former CEO of Oncocyte (2011-15) and Canadian I/O biotech BriaCell Therapeutics (2015-16). Notable Labs merged with VBL Therapeutics in February 2023 and will start enrolling patients in its Phase 2 study of the ex-Boehringer Ingelheim drug volasertib for acute myeloid leukemia “in the coming months,” the company said in July.
Thomas Russo→ Delfi Diagnostics marked the beginning of the year with a new CEO it hired away from Illumina. Now, the competitor to Grail has brought on Thomas Russo as finance chief. Russo served in the same role at Icosavax and Assembly Biosciences. During his time at Icosavax, Russo helped with the company’s growth until its $838 million upfront acquisition by AstraZeneca.
Ian Clements→ Marea Therapeutics, the Third Rock upstart led by ex-Graphite Bio CEO Josh Lehrer, has selected Ian Clements as CFO. Clements resigned from the same post at Livmarli maker Mirum Pharmaceuticals in May 2023 after four years overall with the company, and he’s the ex-VP of investor relations for Dermira. Marea launched in June with $190 million in “combined Series A and B” funding, testing an ex-Novartis monoclonal antibody that targets ANGPTL4 in adults with metabolic dysfunction.
Nishi Rampal→ With ex-Synlogic CEO Aoife Brennan at the controls, a seemingly rejuvenated Eliem Therapeutics has named Brett Kaplan as COO and Nishi Rampal as SVP, clinical development. Kaplan had been president and chief financial & corporate development officer for epigenetic editing upstart Chroma Medicine, and he was also the finance chief at Prevail until Eli Lilly bought the gene therapy biotech for $1 billion. An Alexion vet, Rampal also handled the role of global development and strategy lead for the neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) treatment Uplizna as an executive director with Horizon/Amgen. Eliem’s hunt for strategic alternatives ended with the acquisition of Tenet Medicines and its anti-CD19 antibody budoprutug, once known as TNT119.
→ Backed by RA Capital and Forbion, Navigator Medicines disclosed this week its $100 million Series A and the recruitment of Dana McClintock as CMO. McClintock spent six years in the same position at Alladapt Immunotherapeutics and was global head of the Office of I2O Innovation for Genentech. Navigator also said that Forbion general partner Wouter Joustra and RA Capital managing director Andrew Levin have made their way to the board of directors.
Alex Bastian→ Alex Bastian has been named VP, commercial strategy at Swiss-based Memo Therapeutics, reuniting with CEO Erik van den Berg. Toward the end of van den Berg’s tenure as CEO of AM-Pharma, Bastian was the Dutch biotech’s VP, commercial & patient access. He also worked for Galapagos as VP, head of value & market access.
→ Structure Therapeutics, one of many biotechs developing a GLP-1 drug for obesity, has elected ex-Shire CEO Angus Russell to the board of directors. The 68-year-old Russell has chaired the board at Daxxify maker Revance Therapeutics since 2014 and has a board seat at Lineage Cell Therapeutics.
Jeff Hatfield→ Ex-Vividion CEO Jeff Hatfield has joined the board of directors at Gate Bioscience, a California drug developer that launched last November with a $60 million Series A from several blue-chip investors. Hatfield chairs the board at Vividion and Rome Therapeutics.
→ Opna Bio has made room for Inozyme co-founder and former CEO Axel Bolte on the board of directors. The South San Francisco biotech also announced that it had dosed the first patient in a Phase 1 trial of its multiple myeloma candidate OPN-6602 and appointed Myeloma Investment Fund managing director Stephanie Oestreich as a board observer.