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.
Novo Nordisk nominates CEO successor
Novo Nordisk
After the surprise departure of longtime CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen in May, Danish pharma giant Novo Nordisk didn’t take too long to find a successor. Maziar Mike Doustdar, currently the company’s EVP of international operations, will assume the chief executive post Aug. 7, a day after Novo reports its half-year performance. The CEO shake-up is the result of Novo’s struggles to stay ahead in the obesity race that it first kicked off with semaglutide products Wegovy, Ozempic and Rybelsus. On the same day Doustdar’s ascendance was announced, Novo lowered its 2025 sales outlook by 5% and 7% on the low and high ends, respectively. Story
Adaptimmune execs out in strategic shuffle
Adaptimmune
After months of searching for strategic options, Adaptimmune is offloading its cell therapies to a global pharma, reducing its workforce by 62% and saying goodbye to a suite of executives. Chief Medical Officer Elliot Norry, M.D., and Chief Commercial Officer Cintia Piccina will both exit the company Aug. 8, while Chief Scientific Officer Joanna Brewer, Ph.D., and Chief Financial Officer Gavin Wood will follow them out the door Aug. 31. The move was telegraphed, with the biotech voicing concerns about its own longevity, cutting funding for two preclinical programs and starting to look at strategic options back in March. Story
Sage wipes board clean ahead of Supernus merger
Sage Therapeutics
With Supernus Pharmaceuticals’ $561 million buyout of Sage Therapeutics complete, the latter company has transitioned its leadership as it joins the Supernus fold. All eight members of Sage’s board of directors, including CEO Barry Greene and board Chairman Geno Germano, each turned in their resignations. The former executive team is out, too. Greene will get 18 months of cash severance, while former Chief Operating Officer Christopher Benecchi, ex-Chief Scientific Officer Michael Quirk, Ph.D., and outgoing SVP and General Counsel Gregory Shiferman are in line for 12 months of severance, plus each will receive their full annual bonus.
The officer removal was the last step of wiping clean Sage’s pre-Supernus team, as the company already rid itself of all 338 of its employees in mass layoffs days after the acquisition was revealed. The changes leave Supernus CEO Jack Khattar and SVP of Corporate Development Bryan Roecklein, Ph.D., in charge. Securities and Exchange Commission filing
> Drug developer Certara is going all in on AI efforts with the appointment of Christopher Bouton, Ph.D., as chief technology officer. Release
> Neuraxpharm Group is branching out with a newly launched Australian affiliate and chose Avendran Naidu to lead the new offshoot as head of commercial. Release
> Roland Kolbeck, Ph.D., has been tapped as Aclaris Therapeutic’s chief scientific officer and successor to Joe Monahan, Ph.D., who is leaving his post but will stay on as a special scientific advisor to the CEO through the start of 2026. Release
> Commercial biotech BioCryst Pharmaceuticals is losing its longtime leader, with President and CEO Jon Stonehouse set to retire at the end of the year. Chief Commercial Officer Charlie Gayer will step up to take his place. Release
> Meitheal Pharmaceuticals is looking to grow with the help of experienced physician Keith Robinson, M.D., who is coming aboard as chief medical officer. Release
> Apimeds Pharmaceuticals is bringing on board a new SVP of development in Susan Kramer, who will be joined by Brian Peters as head of the company’s proprietary ai² division. Release
> With a recently announced investment in cGMP bioconjugation capabilities at its Devens, Massachusetts, site, API maker Veranova selected Lonza vet Thomas Rohrer to head the charge as VP of bioconjugation. Release
> Flashpoint Therapeutics pointed to its next CEO in Barry Labinger, an experienced executive who will be taking the place of founding CEO Adam Margolin, Ph.D. Release
> Cancer biotech CoRegen has hired Sonal Gupta, M.D., Ph.D., former clinical development leader at AffyImmune, to be chief medical officer. Release
> Bristol Myers Squibb vet and regulatory expert Charles Andres, Ph.D., is the new CEO of drug delivery specialist Altanine. Release
> Ellen Lubman has shifted from Werewolf Therapeutics to ReAlta Life Sciences, where she will retain her title of chief business officer. Release
> Global CRO Emerald Clinical Trials has tapped board member Glenn Kerkhof as interim CEO to replace Mary Gunn, who has stepped down effective immediately. Release