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.
Makary names Prasad new CBER head
Food and Drug Administration
In the wake of the high-profile departure of Peter Marks, M.D., Ph.D., the FDA has a new leader for its Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. FDA Commissioner Martin Makary, M.D., has named hematologist-oncologist Vinay Prasad, M.D., to the post. Prasad most recently served as a professor at the University of California, San Francisco, and he authored books on the medical field in 2015 and 2020. He has publicly criticized the agency in the past, voicing concerns last year about an FDA proposal for additional regulatory flexibility in support of multiple myeloma drug approvals. Story
Lilly shuffles leadership to drive U.S. growth
Eli Lilly
Eli Lilly is unleashing a wave of changes to its global team in a mission to support continuing growth in the U.S. and in its cardiometabolic health business. Through the push for a new leadership focus on these areas, the current EVP and president of Lilly International Ilya Yuffa is switching to the same role at Lilly USA and in global customer capabilities. Patrik Jonsson, meanwhile, the current EVP and president of cardiometabolic health at Lilly USA, is swapping with Yuffa to head up Lilly International. Taking over the cardiometabolic health unit is Kenneth Custer, Ph.D., who will join the executive team from his previous role of general manager at Lilly Canada. Release
Organ engineer eGenesis taps CMO
eGenesis
Jay Barth, M.D., is now the chief medical officer of eGenesis, a company focused on engineering animal organs to make them compatible for human transplants, after previously holding the title at Ascidian Therapeutics. Barth also previously held the CMO role at Lexeo Therapeutics and Amicus Therapeutics, and also served a stint at Merck & Co. as executive director of clinical research early in his career. Barth joins eGenesis a few weeks after the company received FDA clearance to conduct a phase 1 trial transplanting genetically engineered pig livers into patients with liver failure. Release
> Bristol Myers Squibb swapped its EVP, general counsel and chief policy officer Sandra Leung with its EVP of corporate affairs Cari Gallman as Leung retires following a 33-year-long career with the company. Release
> Priothera snagged a new chief medical officer in Jens Hasskarl, M.D., Ph.D., replacing Elisabeth Kueenburg, M.D., in the role. Release
> Unity Bio slashed its entire workforce as it weighs strategic alternatives, including CEO Anirvan Ghosh, Ph.D., Chief Financial Officer Lynne Sullivan and Chief Legal Officer Alex Nguyen, who are all transitioning into consulting roles with the company instead. Story
> Board member Karen Smith, M.D., Ph.D., is Context Therapeutics’ new interim chief medical officer as the company searches for a permanent replacement for departing Claudio Dansky Ullmann, M.D. Release
> Paris-based biopharma Ipsen has a new strategy leader in Laura Réveillon, Ph.D., who will join the French firm as executive vice president of strategy and transformation. Release
> Thomas Ciulla, M.D., who previously led the medical strategy for Spark Therapeutics’ (acquired by Roche) retinal disease gene therapy Luxturna, is now the president and CEO of eye-focused Ikarovec. Release
> Cancer biotech PAQ Therapeutics has appointed Andrew Krivoshik, M.D., Ph.D., as chief medical officer. Release