Kevin GormanAfter more than three decades at Neurocrine, CEO Kevin Gorman will retire later this year, handing the reins of the $13 billion neuroscience drugmaker over to Kyle Gano, a longtime business partner.
The CEO transition was announced Tuesday, with Gorman informing the board of his retirement plans on May 24. Gano, currently Neurocrine’s chief business development and strategy officer, will take over as CEO on Oct. 11 when Gorman retires.
Gorman’s lengthy tenure at Neurocrine included a classic boom-and-bust arc in biotech, but also an unlikely resurgence to reach the company’s current stable footing.
Founded in 1992, Neurocrine excited investors in the early 2000s with blockbuster hopes for a Pfizer-partnered sleep drug. By 2005, Neurocrine was worth $2.4 billion and had nearly 600 employees before the FDA twice rejected that drug in 2006 and 2007. Gorman became CEO in 2008 amid multiple rounds of layoffs, a plunging stock price and a dwindling balance sheet.
Gorman kept the business alive by selling its San Diego headquarters just before the real estate market crashed, scrounging enough money together to find clinical success with Orilissa, an endometriosis drug that was licensed and now sold by AbbVie. Neurocrine launched its own drug, Ingrezza, to treat tardive dyskinesia in 2017.
Kyle GanoGano, who has spent over two decades at Neurocrine, will be charged with leading the next chapter, particularly as the biotech recently filed for approval for another drug candidate to treat congenital adrenal hyperplasia, or CAH.
“This is an important year for our organization, as we look to help even more patients with tardive dyskinesia and Huntington’s disease through Ingrezza, while potentially bringing crinecerfont to CAH patients in 2025 – all while advancing our pipeline,” Gano said in a statement. “I look forward to continuing to work closely with our leadership team and the Board to capitalize on our momentum and advance our vision to be a true global leader in neuroscience.”
Stifel analyst Paul Matteis called Gano a “good choice” as Gorman’s successor, writing in a note to investors it felt like “somewhat of a natural transition point” for the change as Neurocrine prepares for a possible launch of its CAH drug.
Gorman plans to end his tenure with Neurocrine as a $13 billion biotech with over 1,400 employees, and Ingrezza sales expected to surpass $2 billion in 2024. The company ended March with $1.9 billion in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities.
“The best days of Neurocrine are in front of us by far, I have no doubt about that,” Gorman said at the close of the biotech’s first-quarter earnings call this month.
— Andrew Dunn
James Sterling→ The high rate of turnover with the CFO position persists at bluebird bio, as ex-Renalytix CFO James Sterling replaces Chris Krawtschuk as the gene therapy company’s fifth finance chief in a three-year span on June 10. Krawtschuk stuck around longer than some of his predecessors, taking on the role in November 2022 after Jason Cole’s departure. Earlier, Cole and Gina Consylman each lasted less than a year as CFO, and current 2seventy bio CEO Chip Baird held this title from 2019-21 before the split.
→ Daniel Swisher has taken over as CEO of NodThera, while Alan Watt returns to the CSO slot he once held and adds the role of president to his business card. Swisher’s tenure as president and COO at Jazz Pharmaceuticals ended in September 2023, and this is his first CEO gig since he ran Sunesis Pharmaceuticals from 2004-17. NodThera said in February that its NLRP3 inflammasome inhibitor, NT-0796 — which is also being studied for Parkinson’s — shows promise as a weight loss treatment when pitted against Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy.
James Sabry→ As John Carroll told you on Tuesday, James Sabry will retire as global head of pharma partnering at Roche. Sabry, the founder and ex-CEO of Cytokinetics who came to Genentech in 2010, will be replaced by group business development leader Boris Zaïtra on July 1. Zaïtra will take on a new job title (head of corporate business development) that fuses the two execs’ responsibilities into one role. This is the latest major promotion within Roche’s stable of talent in the last year and change: Thomas Schinecker replaced Severin Schwan as CEO in March 2023, and around the same time, Teresa Graham was elevated to pharma chief after current Bayer CEO Bill Anderson’s exit.
Mark Eisner→ Kyle LaHucik spoke with Mark Eisner and his former Genentech bandmate Joe Arron when they joined the team at Sonoma Biotherapeutics last September. But Eisner has left his CMO post to take the same job with Vir Biotechnology, officially succeeding Phil Pang on June 3. Eisner, one of the leaders in the development of the arthritis drug Actemra, was promoted to SVP, global head of immunology, infectious disease and ophthalmology product development at Genentech before his first CMO appointment at FibroGen in late 2020. It’s another significant loss for Sonoma: Business and strategy chief Peter DiLaura was named CEO at Initial Therapeutics in late April.
Vanessa Wolfeler→ Vanessa Wolfeler will be the next CEO of SERB Pharmaceuticals, a specialty pharma that nabbed the US rights last year to bentracimab, a reversal agent for the antiplatelet effects of AstraZeneca’s heart drug Brilinta. After a year with Vertex as VP of global marketing for its cystic fibrosis products, Wolfeler joined Sanofi as head of the global rare blood disorders franchise, and has led the US respiratory and gastrointestinal franchise for the French pharma since October 2021. She’ll replace Anthony Higham on June 3.
Tom Schuetz→ That didn’t take long: Tom Schuetz is back in the top spot at Compass Therapeutics after Vered Bisker-Leib had just been promoted to CEO on Jan. 9. Schuetz had served as president of R&D in that short period of time. Bisker-Leib will be available as a senior consultant “for the next 15 months,” Compass said in a statement. Backed by Peter Thiel and chaired by OrbiMed’s Carl Gordon, Compass put the finishing touches on its $132 million Series A round following Bisker-Leib’s appointment as CBO in 2018 and has since gone public.
Brendan O’Grady→ Brendan O’Grady has been named CEO of Assertio, which bought Spectrum Pharmaceuticals last year for $248 million in an all-stock deal. O’Grady methodically climbed through the ranks in a 21-year career at Teva and eventually became CEO of Teva USA. He jumped to Glenmark in June 2022 as CEO of its global formulations business and left that position a few months ago.
Bob Cuddihy→ After some time in academia, Bob Cuddihy has returned to the industry as SVP of medical affairs for Crinetics, which unspooled “compelling” data in the eyes of Stifel analysts with its congenital adrenal hyperplasia candidate atumelnant last week. Since Cuddihy’s yearlong stint as CEO of Capsida Biotherapeutics, he’s had a teaching job at Dartmouth and held the role of section chief, endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism at the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center and Clinics. His other previous leadership positions in medical affairs include stops at Amgen, J&J and Sanofi. “I’ve seen first-hand the devastating toll endocrine disease can take on patients, and I am eager to support Crinetics on advancing its cutting-edge pipeline as we strive to improve the lives of patients together,” Cuddihy said in a statement.
Kaan Certel→ Flagship’s Omega Therapeutics has recruited Kaan Certel as CBO. Certel just had a brief stint as CBO of China-based BioCity Biopharma and he spent six years with Sanofi, where he was global head of oncology external innovation. Omega said last September that OTX-2002 helped tamp down on the average expression of the MYC gene in eight hepatocellular carcinoma patients. “With these early data, we weren’t even expecting to see these kinds of signals, and we’re seeing it in eight of eight patients. That is incredible for a completely new modality,” Omega chief Mahesh Karande told Endpoints News.
Sharon Townson→ The molecular glue folks at Monte Rosa Therapeutics have promoted a trio of execs: First, technology chief Sharon Townson has succeeded Owen Wallace as CSO. You may recall that Wallace left Monte Rosa on May 17, and Peer Review has learned that he’s the new CEO of Econic Biosciences, a UK biotech from the SR One portfolio that targets extrachromosomal DNA. Next, Phil Nickson (chief business and legal officer) is a Momenta vet who had been general counsel at Monte Rosa since 2022. And Jennifer Champoux (COO) joined Monte Rosa in 2021 and has spent the last year as chief people and operations officer.
→ Monopar CFO Kim Tsuchimoto is retiring after nine years, and Karthik Radhakrishnan will replace her on July 1. Radhakrishnan showed up on our radar in 2021 when he was named CEO of Asylia Therapeutics, and he’s been a consultant with Monopar “over the past 6 to 7 months,” CEO Chandler Robinson said in a statement. As radiopharmaceuticals continue to trend upward, Monopar said earlier this month that it would morph into a radiopharma company and ditch all its other candidates.
Tyler Benedum→ Tyler Benedum has been promoted to chief technical officer at Aktis Oncology, which is set to receive $60 million upfront from Eli Lilly in a radiopharma pact that could be worth up to $1.1 billion. Benedum had led CMC efforts for Aktis since January 2022, and he had a 16-year career with Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, the company that Lilly acquired in 2010 and was once helmed by Lilly science chief Dan Skovronsky.
Paula O’Connor→ Nurix Therapeutics, which has teamed up with Seagen, Gilead and Sanofi on separate protein degradation deals, has promoted Paula O’Connor to CMO and Pasit Phiasivongsa to chief technical officer. Both O’Connor and Phiasivongsa have worked at Nurix since 2022, with O’Connor as head of clinical development and Phiasivongsa as EVP of technical operations. It’s full speed ahead for Nurix after the FDA lifted the partial clinical hold on its Phase 1 candidate for relapsed/refractory B cell malignancies, NX-2127, in March.
Marc Forth→ Peter Reynolds has been “terminated” as CFO of AEON Biopharma, the Irvine, CA-based biotech that scrapped a Phase 2 trial of its chronic migraine drug ABP-450 after it missed the mark on primary and secondary endpoints. CEO Marc Forth is assuming the role of principal financial officer, while corporate controller Jennifer Sy is handling principal accounting duties. AEON’s reorg will put 55% of its employees on the chopping block.
→ Daniel Simon will become CBO at South San Francisco-based synthetic lethality player Ideaya Biosciences in August. He just held the same role at Revolution Medicines and led biopharma business development for Guardant Health from 2015-22. Ideaya is studying its PKC inhibitor darovasertib in patients with uveal melanoma.
Michael Gutch→ Entact Bio has rolled out the welcome mat for Michael Gutch as COO. Prior to his new role, Gutch was with Noema Pharma as CFO. Earlier in his career, Gutch was CFO and CBO of Entasis Therapeutics and executive director, corporate development and head of equities at AstraZeneca. Back in 2022, Entact secured $81 million from a Series A to launch its protein enhancement platform.
Cole Pinnow→ In February, Cogent Biosciences raised $225 million in a stock sale. Now, the company has brought in Cole Pinnow as chief commercial officer. Pinnow joins the Waltham, MA-based company from Pfizer, where he was president and managing director of Pfizer Canada. Before that, he was with Abbott Laboratories.
→ Alkeus Pharmaceuticals, the Joshua Boger-chaired biotech that’s focused on treating Stargardt disease, has named Eric Trachtenberg as chief legal officer. Trachtenberg formerly served as chief compliance officer and corporate secretary at Kala Bio. Trachtenberg joins Alkeus as the company gears up for an NDA submission for its Stargardt candidate gildeuretinol and after it raised $150 million last June.
JJ Bienaimé→ Add Keros Therapeutics to the list of board appointments for ex-BioMarin chief JJ Bienaimé. Less than a week after he announced his retirement from BioMarin, Bienaimé joined the board at Clay Siegall’s Immunome, and he’s chaired the board at Owkin since late March.
→ Zentalis has carved out some space for Seagen clinical development vet Luke Walker on the board of directors. In October 2022, he succeeded Natalie Sacks as CMO of Harpoon Therapeutics, which was sold to Merck for $680 million earlier this year.
Lisa Bollinger→ One of the buzziest upstarts in the I&I field, Apogee Therapeutics, has elected Lisa Bollinger to the board of directors. The Amgen and FDA alum had been VP of regulatory affairs, global regulatory affairs and clinical safety for Merck.
→ J&J-partnered Exonate has appointed Complement Therapeutics CEO Rafiq Hasan to its board of directors. Hasan previously served as SVP and global head of ophthalmology at Bayer. Hasan’s appointment comes after Exonate’s drug succeeded in its Phase 1b/2a trial in diabetic macular edema last November.