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.
Galapagos CEO eyes exit as spinout names leader
Galapagos
The CEO and board chair of Belgian biotech Galapagos has announced plans to leave the islands. Paul Stoffels, M.D., will retire from the top role within the next year, once a successor is found. Stoffels joined the company in 2022 after more than 13 years at Johnson & Johnson. Meanwhile, the spinout formed from Galapagos’ January split has found its leader. Henry Gosebruch has been named the founding CEO of the subsidiary, which is currently named XYZ SpinCo and is focusing on building up its pipeline while Galapagos continues developing cell therapies. Gosebruch previously served as president and CEO of Neumora and has also held long-term positions at AbbVie and J.P. Morgan. Release
Longtime NIH leader set to retire as chief of staff
National Institutes of Health
After 39 years at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), chief of staff John Burklow is retiring from the agency effective April 25. Burklow got his start at the National Cancer Institute in 1986 and previously served as the NIH’s associate director for communications and public liaison and director of the NIH office of communications and public liaison from 2002 to 2021. Replacing Burklow is Seana Cranston, a lawyer who previously worked with Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill for 14 years. Joining Cranston as deputy chief of staff is fintech executive James McElroy, while former Army officer Eric Schnabel is the agency’s new chief operating officer. BlueSky & Politico
Lilly exec jumps to Zealand
Zealand Pharma
Zealand Pharma secured a new executive team member in Utpal Singh, Ph.D., who will fill the company’s chief scientific officer role. Singh is joining the team fresh off of an 18-year stint at Eli Lilly, where he most recently served as its SVP of small-molecule discovery and led the “transformation of the discovery engine,” according to Zealand. At Denmark-based Zealand, which just inked a $1.65 billion deal with Roche for codevelopment and co-commercialization rights on Zealand’s long-acting amylin analog petrelintide, Singh will head up discovery research and translational science into the company’s “next wave of highly differentiated, innovative therapies” as it looks to become a leader in obesity management. Release
> Sethuraman Panchanathan, Ph.D., who has led the National Science Foundation since being appointed by President Donald Trump in 2020, is resigning more than a year before his term ends. Science
> Leaders at Roivant spinout Immunovant are switching sides, with Roivant’s COO Eric Venker, M.D., taking over the CEO seat at Immunovant from retiring Pete Salzmann, M.D., as part of a larger plan to boost “increased Roivant alignment.” Story
> Coherus BioSciences’ chief commercial officer Paul Reider is out, opting to pursue other opportunities as the company pivots from biosimilars to novel immuno-oncology programs. Story
> Versant’s Granite Bio unveiled with $100 million and a leadership team that’s led by CEO Patrick Loustau, Dominik Hartl, M.D., as chief medical officer and Gijs van den Brink, M.D., Ph.D., in the chief scientific officer slot. Story
> Beth Marsh is Neurotech Pharmaceuticals’ new chief commercial officer, where she will help the company gear up for the U.S. launch of its idiopathic macular telangiectasia type 2 treatment Encelto. Release
> Zymeworks tapped Gilead Sciences vet Sabeen Mekan, M.D., as its SVP of clinical development to work on creating the clinical development strategy for the company’s oncology portfolio. Release
> Cassava Sciences’ chief medical officer James Kupiec, M.D., is leaving behind his post and retiring effective May 9, while Jack Moore, Ph.D., is joining the company as SVP of clinical development. Release
> Tagworks Pharmaceuticals is bringing on experienced Chief Medical Officer Keith Orford, M.D., Ph.D., as the company begins clinical development of its solid tumor candidate TGW101. Release
> Eyal Attar, M.D., was appointed chief medical officer at Halda Therapeutics, where he will use his years of expertise on advancing the company’s novel small molecule RIPTAC (regulated induced proximity targeting chimeras) platform. Release
> Vaccine developer GeoVax is bringing Senthil Ranganathan, Ph.D., on board as vice president of technical development and CMC operations as the company looks to advance its infectious disease and cancer vaccine pipeline. Release
> Harbinger Health is boosting its efforts to improve early cancer detection with new President Matt Turner and Chief Medical Officer Hutan Ashrafian, M.D., Ph.D. Release
> ADC startup Synthetic Design Lab has emerged from stealth with $20 million in the bank and protein engineer Daniel Chen, M.D., Ph.D., at the helm as CEO. Release
> Less than a month after a CEO swap following an investor power struggle, eye-focused Aurion is adding to its C-suite with optometrist and co-founder Eris Jordan as chief development officer and Edward Holland, M.D., as chief medical officer. Release
> Former FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, M.D., is co-chairing the steering committee of the newly launched Vaccine Integrity Project. Story
> Creyon Bio is promoting acting CEO Serge Messerlian to the top spot permanently as the company plans to bring its lead neuromuscular disease candidate into the clinic next year. Release
> Obesity biotech Antag Therapeutics is boosting its leadership with Novo Nordisk vets Jens Christian Norrild, Ph.D., as vice president and CMC head, Ayna Nejad, Ph.D., as director of clinical pharmacology and Imke Tiessen, Ph.D., as chief of staff. Release
> Parisian genetic medicine company Coave Therapeutics is expanding into the U.S. with the help of new Massachusetts-based Vice President of Business Development Romain Pettenaro. Release
> Hansa Biopharma CEO Søren Tulstrup has stepped down after seven years with the company, with Renée Aguiar-Lucander appointed to replace him. Release