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.
Allogene swaps in CMO as new chief exec
Allogene Therapeutics
After more than eight years at the helm of off-the-shelf CAR-T company Allogene Therapeutics, co-founder David Chang, M.D., Ph.D., is stepping down so that Zachary Roberts, M.D., Ph.D., the biotech’s chief medical officer and head of R&D, can take his place starting June 30. Roberts joined Allogene in 2023 and spearheaded a bold plan to pivot to a never-before-seen trial design targeting minimal residual disease in lymphoma, which so far seems to be paying off. Before joining Allogene, Roberts was chief medical officer of Instil Bio and also worked for four years at Kite Pharma, spanning before and after the company’s acquisition by Gilead Sciences. Kite was a common prior stomping ground for Allogene’s leadership, including Chang; the outgoing CEO served as Kite’s R&D head and chief medical officer before departing to found Allogene. Release
Immunic snags Genentech vet as CEO
Immunic
Long-time Genentech leader Erik Lundgren is bringing his multiple sclerosis (MS) expertise to Immunic as its new CEO, replacing Daniel Vitt, Ph.D. As the New York-based biotech begins to prepare for potential commercialization of its phase 3 relapsing MS candidate IMU-838, Lundgren’s experience launching Genentech’s leading MS drug Ocrevus will prove “instrumental,” Vitt said, citing the new CEO’s strategic, operational and commercial know-how. Lundgren was with Genentech and Roche for over a decade in positions of increasing responsibility, most recently serving as Genentech’s SVP of its commercial portfolio organization. Vitt, meanwhile, will remain on the New York-based biotech’s board and will maintain responsibility for scientific strategy and portfolio advancement. Release
Zai Lab announces COO exit
Zai Lab
Josh Smiley is out as president and chief operating officer at Zai Lab after three and a half years. The company said the leadership change is part of an effort to strengthen operational performance and efficiency. Zai Lab’s leadership change was announced just weeks after Smiley spoke with Fierce Biotech, where he tempered expectations about the rise of the Chinese biotech industry and emphasized the power and value of the American market.
Smiley joined Zai Lab from Eli Lilly after an external investigation found “inappropriate” behavior in personal communications with multiple employees, leading to his departure from his role as CFO while leaving roughly $24 million in cash and equity compensation on the table. The investigation found that Smiley, who became CFO at Lilly in 2018, had “consensual though inappropriate personal communications” with coworkers. Release
> Cartesian Therapeutics is mapping its future without Chief Medical Officer Miloš Miljković, M.D., who is stepping down to return to his medical practice. Release
> David Kerstein, M.D. , who served as chief medical officer of IDRx before its 2025 acquisition by GSK, is now taking the same role at cancer biotech Delphia Therapeutics. Release
> InduPro has tapped experienced oncologist Amanda Redig, M.D., Ph.D., to spin the company’s spatial biology platform into new drug candidates as chief medical officer. Release
> Infectious disease specialist Charles Wells, M.D., is moving to the chief medical officer and head of medical development role at the Gates Medical Research Institute following his tenure as interim CEO and head of development. Release
> Highly experienced business executive Vineet Agarwal is joining chronic cough-focused Nocion Therapeutics as chief business officer. Release
> Retension Pharmaceuticals is welcoming seasoned physician-scientist Alison Schecter, M.D., as chief medical officer, as well as Wall Street vet Alex Schwartz as chief financial officer. Release
> Cancer immunotherapy company Treos Bio has appointed Sunjeet Sawhney as chief executive officer to guide development of its off-the-shelf multi-peptide immunotherapy platform. He previously served as CEO of Rappta Therapeutics. Release
> Claudio Ullmann, M.D., is the new chief medical officer of ImmunoGenesis, a clinical-stage immunotherapy company. He previously served as chief medical officer at Context Therapeutics and will support development of the company’s cytotoxic immune checkpoint inhibitor. Release
> Syneos Health has appointed Greg Licholai, M.D., as chief medical officer, effective June 1. Licholai will lead the biopharma solutions company’s global medical and scientific functions and oversee its drug development partnerships. Release
