Welcome to this week's Chutes & Ladders, our roundup of significant leadership hirings, firings and retirings across the industry. Please send the good word—or the bad—from your shop to Donavyn Coffey, Marissa Russo and Will Maddox, and it will be featured here at the end of each week.
Vivace revs up C-suite ahead of pivotal push
Vivace Therapeutics
California-based oncology biotech Vivace Therapeutics has added two new executives to its C-suite. The company has named Craig Gibbs, Ph.D., as its new president and CEO and Ellen Lubman as its new chief business and strategy officer.
Gibbs previously served as CEO of Asher Biotherapeutics and was also chief business officer of Forty Seven, which was acquired by Gilead in 2020. Lubman was previously the chief business officer at Werewolf Therapeutics, which executed a reverse merger this week.
The new hires arrive ahead of Vivace advancing its candidate VT3989 into a phase 3 registrational trial for patients with mesothelioma who have previously been treated with both combination immunotherapy and combination chemotherapy. The TEAD autopalmitoylation inhibitor has been granted both Fast Track and Orphan Drug designations by the FDA. Release
Mirai grows leadership team with new CEO, CSO
Mirai Bio
Flagship Pioneering-founded Mirai Bio announced multiple leadership changes this week. Interim CEO, Kate Torchilin, Ph.D., will assume the permanent CEO and president role as well as CEO-Partner at Flagship Pioneering.
"Mirai is building a new model for nucleic acid medicine delivery, combining data-driven LNP design, in vivo learning, and integrated development capabilities to make delivery beyond the liver more precise, predictable, safe, and scalable," Torchilin said in the release.
Torchilin was previously at Hamilton Thorne, a manufacturer of laser systems for IVF, where, according to the release, she grew the company’s revenue from $75 million to $200 million in one year. She also spent 13 years at Thermo Fisher Scientific, where she was president of the biologicals and chemicals division. The Massachusetts-based biotech also promoted Jagesh Shah, Ph.D., to be chief scientific officer. Release
Rhythm adds new CMO to ramp up development
Rhythm Pharmaceuticals
Rhythm Pharmaceuticals is bringing a new chief medical officer on board to see the biopharma’s next-generation MC4R agonists through late-stage development. Manher Joshi, M.D., stepped into the role this month.
Joshi joins Rhythm after holding a number of leadership roles across the industry, including chief development officer at Soleno Therapeutics and chief medical officer of Neurona Therapeutics. Joshi and his rare disease experience arrive as Rhythm is looking to expand the indications for its lead asset, Imcivree, and advance two more MC4R agonist drug candidates.
“We are excited to welcome AJ to Rhythm as we enter a new stage of growth and continue to expand our global impact for patients living with rare neuroendocrine diseases,” said David Meeker, M.D., Rhythm chairman, president and CEO. Release
> Quince Therapeutics and company president Charles Ryan, Ph.D., have determined that Ryan's last day at the company will be September 8. Ryan stepped into the role in September of 2023, and his responsibilities included Quince's legal activities and intellectual property portfolio. Filing
> Ken Keller will assume the newly created role of chief commercialization officer at Daiichi Sankyo, where he will be responsible for boosting the oncology and specialty medicine business through the new commercialization unit. Release
> Amplifica grows its leadership with the appointment of Hans Hofland, Ph.D., as the new chief development officer of the San Diego-based dermatology and hair growth drug development biotech. Release
> Boron chemistry-based AN2 Therapeutics, focused on oncology and bone disorders, picked Cameron Trenor, M.D., to be its new chief medical officer as the biotech expects three phase 2 studies to be active in 2026. Release
> Pfizer, Roche, and Judo Bio alum Rajiv Patni, M.D., joined G protein-coupled receptor drug discovery biotech, Septerna, as its new chief medical officer. Release
> Natural compound-focused Enveda Biosciences named Michael Charlton, M.D., as its new VP of clinical development in metabolism and Douglas Maslin as VP and clinical lead for its lead asset ENV-294, according to an email shared with Fierce.
> Chinese immunology biotech BioRay announced that company president Wang Haibin, Ph.D., passed away due to an illness. She was a member of BioRay’s founding team. Release
> Alloy Therapeutics named Venkat Kris to be the chief scientific officer of its nucleic acids division, Alloy Genetic Medicines. Kris will help grow Alloy's RNA discovery and development capabilities. Release
> Nanomedicine startup Eascra Biotech appointed Andrew Goodearl, Ph.D., as chief scientific officer to advance their product development and commercialization. Before Eascra, Goodearl was head of strategy and innovation for biotherapeutics and genetic medicine research at AbbVie. Release