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 Zoey Becker and it will be featured here at the end of each week.
20-year Novo vet lands first CEO role
MC2 Therapeutics
In an effort to maximize the earnings potential of its plaque psoriasis cream, Danish dermatology biotech MC2 Therapeutics has hired a former GLP-1 leader to steer the ship. Trine Ahlgreen is the new CEO of MC2, replacing founding CEO Jesper Lange in a planned transition. Ahlgreen most recently served as chief business officer at Swiss company Micreos, but the bulk of her career has been at Novo Nordisk. In her 20-year career there, she helped lead the launches of the trend-setting semaglutide products Ozempic and Rybelsus, as well as the global cardiovascular indication for GLP-1. At MC2, Ahlgreen will work to expand Wynzora (calcipotriene and betamethasone dipropionate) cream globally. Release
Acadia bulks up rare disease digs with BMS vet
Acadia Pharmaceuticals
Acadia, on a mission to expand its rare disease portfolio and grow its Rett syndrome drug Daybue, is bringing Allyson McMillan-Youngblood on board as SVP of its rare disease franchise. The move is McMillan-Youngblood’s latest in her over two decades of work in the industry, most of which was at Bristol Myers Squibb over a 22-year span. Most recently, she held the role of SVP of U.S. oncology at BMS, garnering experience in rare oncology that will be “invaluable as we grow the Daybue brand and advance our pipeline to bring new therapies to patients in need,” Acadia’s CEO Catherine Owen Adams said. Release
EpiVax bags Big Pharma vet as CSO
EpiVax
EpiVax, a Rhode Island-based firm that offers preclinical immunogenicity testing services, has scored a new top scientist with a Big Pharma pedigree. Vibha Jawa, Ph.D., is EpiVax’s new chief scientific officer, taking over from company founder Annie De Groot, M.D., who is now chief medical officer. Jawa comes from a nearly five-year stint at Bristol Myers Squibb, where she most recently served as executive director of translational medicine. Before BMS, she spent four years at Merck & Co., but the bulk of her career was with Amgen. She spent close to 13 years with the California company, including more than seven years as principal scientist. Release
> Syndeio Biosciences is launching with a focus on precision neurotherapeutics and a stacked team that includes experienced founder and CEO Derek Small at the helm, joined by Gate Neurosciences’ founding CEO Michael McCully as chief operating officer and Allergan vet John Donello, Ph.D., in the chief scientific officer seat. Release
> Big Pharma vet Atif Abbas, M.D., is chasing the thunder with his new appointment at Storm Therapeutics, where he will serve as chief medical officer as the company continues its phase 1b/2 study of its lead oncology program. Release
> Bhavna Hunjan is joining Nucleome Therapeutics as its new chief business officer, where she will chase strategic business opportunities and support company growth. Release
> Canadian drug discovery nonprofit Conscience selected Peng Fu to replace inaugural CEO Ryan Merkley, who hit the exit earlier this year. Release
> Glenn Bilawsky is boomeranging to Slingshot Biosciences, where he will replace founder Jeffrey Kim, Ph.D., as CEO while Kim stays to serve as a board director and senior advisor. Release
> Autoimmune disease-focused Hillstar Bio is bringing R&D leader Shiva Krupa, Ph.D., on as VP of program management while Maude Tessier, Ph.D., will take over as chief operating officer, letting acting chief operating officer Lauren Mifflin of Frazier Life Sciences move into an advisory role. Release
> Reza Mazhari, Ph.D., is joining the senior leadership team at Delphia Therapeutics to help usher in a new chapter of growth as the company moves along with its mission in exploring activation lethality. Release
> Cancer-focused CellCentric is following up its recent $120M series C with the appointment of Celia Economides as chief financial officer and chief business officer. Release
> Lab informatics company Sapio Sciences is boosting CFO Gordon McCall into the chief operating officer spot. Release
> Cancer biotech Volastra Therapeutics is welcoming industry vet David Southwell as CEO, while departing inaugural chief exec Charles Hugh-Jones will continue on as an advisor to the company. Release
> Agilent Technologies has snagged Thermo Fisher’s former VP of global R&D for chromatography and mass spectrometry, August Specht, to serve as its chief technology officer. Release
> Christopher Wright, M.D., Ph.D., is leaving Ring Therapeutics to ride the wave as CMO of RNA medicines company Wave Life Sciences. Release
> Context Therapeutics is looking to advance its portfolio of T cell engagers with new CMO Karen Chagin, M.D., who takes over from Karen Smith, M.D., Ph.D., who was serving in an interim capacity and will retain a seat on the board. Release
> Computational biology firm Schrödinger has named experienced software salesperson Mannix Aklian as executive vice president, chief commercial officer, global head of software sales and marketing. Release