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 Darren Incorvaia or Gabrielle Masson and it will be featured here at the end of each week.
Trevena teeters on edge with C-suite shakedown
Trevena
Biopharma Trevena has whittled its team down to four people in efforts to cut costs, saying goodbye to several C-suite execs and continuing a strategic review that includes a possible asset sale, merger or closure of the company. The departed execs include CEO and President Carrie Bourdow; Chief Medical Officer and SVP Mark Demitrack, M.D.; and Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer Barry Shin. The firings were without cause, according to Trevena, and on Nov. 5 four board members resigned in connection with the cost-cutting efforts. Story
Blackstone-founded Anthos fills exec team with industry vets
Anthos Therapeutics
With its ex-Novartis factor XI inhibitor abelacimab approaching phase 3 development, Anthos Therapeutics selected two new executives for its leadership team in Will Kane, now president and chief commercial officer, and Venkat Ramanan, new chief financial officer. Kane comes from the chief commercial officer role at now Bristol Myers Squibb-owned Karuna Therapeutics and has a leadership background that includes work at Pfizer and AbbVie’s Allergan. Ramanan, meanwhile, most recently departed from Turnstone Biologics and previously served at Gilead Sciences and Amgen. Blackstone Life Sciences created Anthos as a vessel for developing abelacimab after taking it over from Novartis in 2019 for $250 million. Release
Former first lady tapped as Celltex CEO
Celltex Therapeutics
Anita Perry, a nurse and the former first lady of Texas, replaced retiring Celltex CEO and co-founder David Eller at the company’s helm on Oct. 29. Perry’s husband, Rick Perry, was governor of Texas from 2000 to 2015 and secretary of energy under Donald Trump from 2017 to 2019. Anita Perry has served on Celltex’s board for the last seven years. The company focuses on the manufacturing and cryopreservation of mesenchymal stem cells and is currently conducting multiple IND-enabling studies using the cells in a variety of diseases. Release
> Libra Therapeutics named Shawn Scranton as its new CEO while founding CEO Isaac Veinbergs, Ph.D., pivots to the chief business officer role. Release
> With the continued growth of Legend Biotech’s Johnson & Johnson-partnered CAR-T Carvykti, the company plucked Bristol Myers Squibb vet Alan Bash for a new role as Carvykti president. Release
> CDMO Emergent BioSolutions picked experienced executive Simon Lowry, M.D., to serve as chief medical officer and head of R&D. Release
> Gerald Parzmair, M.D., is handing Memo Therapeutics’ chief development officer baton to former Vifor Pharma exec Frits van Alphen, M.D., after stepping down to pursue other opportunities. Release
> Tessellate BIO has a new chief business officer in Lara Boyd, Ph.D., who joined the precision-oncology-focused biotech after climbing the ladder at F-Star Therapeutics. Release
> SOPHiA GENETICS' chief financial officer and chief operating officer Ross Muken was promoted to the newly created role of company president, while George Cardoza was brought in to fill the CFO role. Release
> Eye care specialist Tarus Pharmaceuticals welcomed ophthalmologist Elizabeth Yeu, M.D., to the exec team as chief medical officer following her yearslong stint as chief medical adviser and board member. Release
> Acumen Pharmaceuticals, focused on targeting soluble amyloid beta to treat Alzheimer’s disease, has appointed Amy Schacterle, Ph.D., as chief regulatory officer and head of quality while former Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Janice Hitchcock, Ph.D., is retiring at the end of the year. Release
> Kesmalea Therapeutics brought former Adrestia leader Robert Johnson on board as CEO to spearhead a new small-molecule approach for targeted protein degradation. Release
> As SynOx Therapeutics moves its monoclonal antibody for noncancerous tumors through a phase 3 trial, the company is gearing up for next steps by appointing Elyse Seltzer, M.D., as chief medical officer and Robert Francomano as chief commercial officer. Release
> Vikram Karnani is bringing his Amgen experience to Collegium Pharmaceutical, where he is the new president and CEO, while the interim holder of those jobs, Michael Heffernan, remains chairman of the board. Release