JoAnne FoodyEsperion CMO JoAnne Foody has departed, the company disclosed in an Aug. 5 SEC filing.
“We are grateful for her significant contributions to the company through the years and wish her the very best,” a spokesperson said.
Foody did not respond when contacted via LinkedIn.
Her exit marks the end of a three-year run at the company, after she joined in 2021 following more than four years at Johnson & Johnson. She began at J&J as the executive director of medical affairs for the cardiovascular unit, ascending to VP and head of data sciences for the cardiovascular, metabolism, retina and pulmonary hypertension therapeutic area.
Before joining the New Jersey pharma in 2016, Foody was the global director of scientific affairs for cardiovascular and metabolism at Merck.
Esperion has spent significantly less on R&D as it focuses on selling its approved cholesterol-lowering drugs, Nexletol and Nexlizet. Research and development costs have dropped 53% in the first half of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023, attributed largely to the end of a cardiovascular outcomes trial.
Total revenue for Esperion was $73.8 million in the second quarter and $211.6 million in the first half of the year. The first-half revenue represents a greater than four-fold increase compared to the same period in 2023.
It’s unclear if the company has tapped an interim replacement for Foody.
— Max Bayer
Berta Rodriguez-Hervas→ Pfizer’s digital and technology chief Lidia Fonseca announced on LinkedIn this week that Berta Rodriguez-Hervas has been named chief AI and analytics officer. Following a two-year stint at Tesla, Rodriguez-Hervas worked at Nvidia as senior software engineering manager and principal scientist. She had been VP of artificial intelligence, algorithms and machine learning operations for Dutch automaker Stellantis since January 2022. The growing influence of AI has led companies across a range of industries to make similar hires — one such example in biotech is Moderna, where Dave Johnson served as chief data and AI officer from 2021-23.
Rodriguez-Hervas’ appointment at Pfizer comes a few weeks after the departure of global chief marketing officer Drew Panayiotou. His successor, Susan Rienow, is a 23-year Pfizer vet who was UK managing director and country president.
Cokey Nguyen→ Atara Biotherapeutics said in its Q2 report that CEO Pascal Touchon will step down on Sept. 9 and will replace Carol Gallagher as chair of the board. Atara has promoted chief scientific and technical officer Cokey Nguyen to replace Touchon, the CEO since June 24, 2019. Nguyen is a Pfizer and J&J oncology vet who joined Atara in 2021 from Fate Therapeutics, where he was VP, R&D innovation. His promotion comes at a pivotal juncture as the Jan. 15 decision date approaches for Atara’s T cell immunotherapy tabelecleucel, or tab-cel. It’s approved in the EU as Ebvallo for Epstein‑Barr virus positive post‑transplant lymphoproliferative disease.
Tina Albertson→ Dropping its CAR-NK research to concentrate on off-the-shelf (or allogeneic) CAR-T cell therapies, Caribou Biosciences has named Tina Albertson as CMO. Albertson wasn’t alone when she left Lyell Immunopharma last November after three years as CMO and head of development: 25% of the staff was also let go. Earlier, Albertson was VP of global drug development for Juno Therapeutics and medical director of clinical development and experimental medicine at Seagen. Along with the pipeline changes, Caribou said in a July SEC filing that it would “substantially complete” its own round of layoffs by the end of Q3.
Melanie Gloria→ Acelyrin will part ways with COO Melanie Gloria on Oct. 31, according to an SEC filing. The once high-flying biotech said this week it will now put the spotlight on thyroid eye disease candidate lonigutamab over its previous lead drug izokibep despite a positive Phase 3 readout in hidradenitis suppurativa. Job cuts that affect one-third of the workforce accompanied the pipeline shift. Gloria has held this role since November 2021 and, like former CEO Shao-Lee Lin, is a Horizon alum.
Jonathan Rigby→ Cynthia Pussinen is out after less than a year as CEO of Sernova, and the company has already lined up Zogenix co-founder Jonathan Rigby as her replacement. He’s the former group CEO at Revolo Biotherapeutics, the autoimmune and allergic disease specialist that rebranded from Immune Regulation in 2021, and he has board seats at Oncolytics Biotech and IM Therapeutics. In June 2023, while Philip Toleikis was still in the CEO slot, Sernova revealed that five type 1 diabetes patients were no longer taking insulin after being treated with its “cell pouch” therapy. “As a type 1 diabetic myself, I am honored to serve the company and its shareholders as Sernova’s new CEO,” Rigby said in a statement. “I am passionate about Sernova’s mission and determined to lead the company to realize its full potential.”
Amanda Banks→ Amanda Banks has landed at Ovid Therapeutics as chief development officer. Banks is the former CEO of Blackfynn, the Penn spinout featuring ex-FDA commish Stephen Hahn on the board that shuttered in 2022. Banks would then take on an advisory role with Harbinger Health, the Flagship company that Hahn currently leads. Ovid has moved the ROCK2 inhibitor it’s developing with Sam Waksal’s Graviton Bioscience to the top of the queue — and laid off 43% of its staff. Ovid’s general counsel and CFO also headed for the exit.
→ Last month, Ardelyx was taking Medicare to court over attempts to change coverage over certain drugs used by dialysis patients. Now, the company has picked up Eric Foster as chief commercial officer. Foster, who was SVP and US general manager of Amgen, will be taking over commercial strategies for two of Ardelyx’s drugs, Ibsrela and Xphozah. Earlier in his career, Foster was with Horizon for over a decade, culminating in his role as SVP and general manager of the gout and ophthalmology business units.
Paul Cayer→ Neuroscience upstart Engrail Therapeutics has selected Paul Cayer as CFO, and also said in the same release that Foresite Capital topped off its Series B round with a $10 million extension. Additionally, Merrill Lynch alum Saira Ramasastry has punched her ticket on the board of directors. Cayer, the longtime chief financial and business officer for Otonomy, had handled CFO duties at Ashvattha Therapeutics for the past year. Engrail has now raised $167 million in its Series B, blowing past its initial goal of $100 million. “That’s a luxurious position to be in, in this difficult environment,” CEO Vikram Sudarsan told Kyle LaHucik in March.
Prakash Bhuyan→ SpyBiotech, which is developing a vaccine for human cytomegalovirus, has enlisted Merck and Pfizer vet Prakash Bhuyan as CMO. Bhuyan just spent two years as medical chief of Aerium Therapeutics, the Covid-focused biotech led by ex-Takeda global vaccine business unit president Rajeev Venkayya that recently shut down, as Endpoints News exclusively reported last week. Bhuyan also worked on the Covid treatments that would become Vaxzevria and Evusheld as AstraZeneca’s head of clinical development for vaccines and immune therapies.
→ Neuro biotech Xenon Pharmaceuticals has tapped Matthew Ronsheim as COO. Ronsheim tackled the roles of chief technical officer and later president of Innoviva Specialty Therapeutics after Innoviva bought his previous company, Entasis, in 2022. Before that, he spent four years at the AstraZeneca spinout. A Phase 2 miss with its major depressive drug XEN1101 didn’t keep Xenon from raising $345 million in a public offering last December, and a Phase 3 trial for the indication is still on track “in the second half of 2024,” Xenon said in its Q2 report.
Eva Zhou→ Michael Ehlers is building out his team at Ascidian Therapeutics and has promoted head of research Robert Bell to CSO. The newest hire is chief people officer Eva Zhou, who knows Ehlers well through Apple Tree Partners and Biogen — and she’ll juggle two roles, staying on as ATP’s head of talent. Zhou was elevated to head of global executive search during her eight-year tenure at Biogen. The release also mentions the appointments of Spark vet Melissa Green as head of regulatory and quality, and Resilience alum John Kerwin as head of technical development.
Alan Saghatelian→ Alan Saghatelian has been named chief technology officer at the company he co-founded, Velia Therapeutics. He is a microprotein expert who has been a professor at The Salk Institute for Biological Studies for the last decade, and he previously taught at Harvard. It’s the second major addition to the leadership team for Velia under CEO John McHutchison, the former CSO and R&D chief at Gilead who once helmed Assembly Biosciences. We told you last December about Michael York’s appointment as CBO.
→ Paul Bruno has reunited with his old boss, becoming CBO of precision allosteric therapeutics startup Atavistik Bio. Bruno joined Fulcrum Therapeutics in 2019 as associate director of business development and was promoted to SVP, business and corporate development two years ago. Ex-Fulcrum CEO Bryan Stuart has been running the show at Atavistik since July 2023.
Jennifer Nelson→ Jennifer Nelson’s next move within the Flagship universe is at Omega Therapeutics as SVP of research. Nelson had been Flagship’s VP of research for two years and was head of vaccines for Laronde — the beleaguered biotech that merged with Senda Biosciences to form Sail Biomedicines — from 2019-22. She also had multiple roles over a six-year period with Moderna.
→ Now led by former Axcella CEO Bill Hinshaw, cancer drug developer Fore Biotherapeutics has recruited Michael Byrnes as CFO. After a short stay at Principia Biopharma as SVP of finance, Byrnes took the CFO job at eFFECTOR Therapeutics in December 2020 and stayed in that position until it closed up shop earlier this summer. Additionally, the release notes the hiring of Novartis and Bristol Myers Squibb vet Payman Darouian as SVP, corporate development, strategy and commercial. Darouian had marketing gigs at Karyopharm and Fosun Pharma before pivoting to Fore in June.
Sagar Vaidya→ Merck’s Alzheimer’s partner Cerevance has welcomed Sagar Vaidya as CMO. Since 2019, Vaidya had led clinical development for Travere Therapeutics, which has its sights set on a full approval for its IgA nephropathy treatment Filspari. The ex-Sangamo senior medical director also helped develop the achondroplasia drug Voxzogo at BioMarin.
→ David Feltquate has made his way to I/O biotech iTeos Therapeutics as CMO. The Bristol Myers alum recently held the same title at Palleon Pharmaceuticals and is the former global head of hematology development at Novartis. GSK and iTeos are partnering on the human immunoglobulin G1 (IgG1) monoclonal antibody belrestotug; iTeos received a $35 million milestone payment last month after dosing their first patient.
Sharon Klier→ Ophthalmology biotech Oculis has enlisted Sharon Klier as chief development officer. Klier was development chief and head of ophthalmology at Unity Biotechnology, and before that, Klier had gigs at Quark, Allergan and Pfizer. In June, Oculis touted Phase 2 results in dry eye disease, but noted that most data weren’t statistically significant.
Kristi Sarno→ San Diego-based iBio has appointed Kristi Sarno as SVP of business development. Sarno had been VP of business development and corporate strategy for Homology Medicines, which merged with Q32 Bio after running into the same financing problems that have plagued other gene therapy biotechs. She also had BD roles at Pfenex and Crucell.
Katie George→ Quince Therapeutics, which acquired rare disease biotech EryDel last year, has rolled out the welcome mat for Brent Roeck as VP of program and alliance management and Katie George as executive director of clinical operations. George joins the California biotech with experience from Centessa, Pfizer, Biogen and Covance, among others. The appointments come after the FDA lifted its clinical hold on EryDel’s rare pediatric disease drug-device last September, allowing Quince to move forward with Phase 3 plans.
→ Private biotech AltPep, which made its last Peer Review appearance in December after snagging its CBO Soon Hyouk Lee, has now named Denis Sirringhaus as VP, business development. Sirringhaus joins the Seattle-based team from Caribou Biosciences, where he was executive director of business development, helping secure Pfizer’s $25 million investment. Prior to that, he was with Gossamer Bio, Roche/Genentech and JPMorgan.
Bernhardt Zeiher→ Abeona Therapeutics has elected Bernhardt Zeiher and Ultragenyx medical chief Eric Crombez to the board of directors. Zeiher retired as CMO of Astellas in September 2022 and is a board member at Amylyx and Entrada Therapeutics.
→ Omega Funds executive partner Mike Powell is now chairman of the board at Bicara Therapeutics. Omega Funds contributed to the biotech’s $108 million Series B in March 2023, and Bicara wasn’t done, raising $165 million in a Series C nine months later. Remix Therapeutics CMO Christopher Bowden has joined Powell on the board.
David Wheadon→ Chaired by Steve Paul, PureTech’s Seaport Therapeutics has added David Wheadon to the board of directors. The GSK and Abbott vet spent more than four and a half years with AstraZeneca as head of global regulatory affairs, patient safety and quality assurance. He has taken on multiple board roles since leaving AstraZeneca in 2019. Bob Nelsen is also on the board at Seaport, Paul’s latest neuro bet that made its $100 million debut in April with ARCH’s support.
→ Los Angeles-based CAR-T maker ImmPACT Bio has made room for NewAmsterdam Pharma CFO Ian Somaiya on the board of directors. Somaiya came to NewAmsterdam last October after more than a year and a half as chief financial and business officer for Elucida Oncology.