CatalYm has tapped four industry leaders to take up spots at the immunotherapy biotech, a move that has prompted three other executives to leave the company.
The German drug developer’s chief medical officer, Eugen Leo, M.D., is stepping down after nearly seven years in the role, with Sujata Rao, M.D., taking his spot, according to a Sept. 15 release.
Rao joins from Insilico Medicine, where he served as CMO, and has past experience at Bristol Myers Squibb, Onyx, Eli Lilly and Armo Biosciences, an immuno-oncology biotech Lilly acquired in 2018 for $1.6 billion.
CatalYm is welcoming another Armo alum in the form of Clinton Musil, who will take on the role of chief business and chief financial officer. Musil also served as CFO at Skyhawk Therapeutics before helming the biotech as CEO.
Now, Musil takes the place of former CFO Anne Burger, who has been at the biotech for more than seven years and also recently spent a few months as interim CEO before CatalYm found a permanent leader in Scott Clarke.
The German company is also bringing aboard Heike Krupka, Ph.D., as chief development officer. Krupka joins from Bristol Myers, where she led program management for early and late development in oncology, hematology and cell therapy. Before that, she held senior leadership positions at both Pfizer and Roche’s Genentech.
Also newer to CatalYm is Andrea Goddard, who took on the role of chief technology officer a few months ago. Goddard has served in several technical and operational roles across Roche and Genentech.
In turn, CatalYm’s chief scientific officer Christine Schuberth-Wagner, Ph.D., is leaving her role after almost seven years with the biotech.
The leadership shake-up is designed to speed up the late-stage development of CatalYm’s main candidate, dubbed visugromab. The monoclonal antibody targets GDF-15 and is being assessed primarily among solid cancers.
In a phase 1/2 trial, visugromab in combination with an anti-PD-1 inhibitor was associated with “deep and durable responses” across several solid tumor types while maintaining a favorable safety profile, according to CatalYm.
Visugromab is expected to enter multiple phase 2b studies, including in first-line metastatic non-small cell lung cancer and cachexia, a wasting syndrome often caused by severe disease.
The new leadership additions also significantly boost CatalYm’s international development expertise, according to the release.
The biotech is headquartered in Munich and has expanded to include a site in San Francisco.
Back in 2024, the biotech secured $150 million in a series D fundraise, money that is going toward the phase 2b studies. The company is backed by Canaan Partners, Forbion Growth, Omega Funds, Jeito Capital, Novartis Venture Fund and Vesalius, among others.