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.
Former FDA leader takes new biotech Turn
Turn Therapeutics
Stephen Hahn
Stephen Hahn, M.D., who served as the FDA commissioner for just over a year during the first Trump administration, is taking his extensive regulatory expertise to Turn Therapeutics. As the executive clinical and regulatory lead, Hahn will guide the regulatory strategy for GX-03, Turn’s topical eczema treatment that is currently in a phase 2 study. Hahn’s family has struggled with eczema, he said, so “this mission is deeply personal for me.”
After his tenure at the FDA came to a close, Hahn pivoted into the biotech sector, joining Flagship Pioneering as chief medical officer of the preemptive health and medicine initiative and later taking the CEO spot at Flagship’s Harbinger Health. In July 2025, he shifted to become chief exec of the contract manufacturer Nucleus RadioPharma. Before becoming FDA commissioner, Hahn had a storied clinical career at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and the MD Anderson Cancer Center, rising to become chief medical executive of the latter. Release
Amgen lures back exec as new finance chief
Amgen
After some six years at the post, Amgen’s finance chief is telegraphing his exit from the California pharma by early next year. Peter Griffith, who became Amgen’s CFO in 2020, is hanging up his hat at the end of August, to be replaced by former company finance exec Thomas Dittrich on Sept. 1. Dittrich most recently served in the same role at Swiss dermatology specialist Galderma, and previously held a number of “senior financial roles” at Amgen before departing for the wider biopharma world. Griffith will remain onboard at Amgen until January of next year to help with the transition process.
To attract him back into the fold, Amgen is offering Dittrich a one-time equity award of 4.7 million Swiss francs that vests 25% per year from the date it’s granted. The pharma is also handing Dittrich a 4 million franc ($5 million) cash bonus “as part of his Swiss employment,” in addition to a separate “one-time, two-year retention bonus” equaling 5.8 million francs ($7.3 million). Story
Antag tags obesity leader as new CEO
Antag Therapeutics
Antag Therapeutics’ Philip Just Larson, M.D., Ph.D., is relinquishing his longtime role as board chairman in favor of the CEO seat at the obesity-focused biotech. Larson has played a leading role in developing metabolic diseases and obesity treatments over the past two decades, including as Eli Lilly’s former chief scientific officer for diabetes and obesity, where he initiated the dual incretin agonist programs that led to the company’s leading Mounjaro (tirzepatide). Most recently, the executive served as CEO at Six Peaks Bio, an obesity startup that was acquired by AstraZeneca late last year. Antag has set up board member Jørgen Søberg Petersen as interim company chairman while it searches for a new independent successor. Release
> Hearing loss specialist Sensorion has tapped Fred Chereau, a veteran of Alexion-AstraZeneca Rare Disease, to be its next CEO. Release
> Antengene has found a chief scientific officer in Bing Hou, Ph.D., who previously served as the biotech’s head of discovery science and translational medicine. Release
> As it awaits a decision from the FDA for its blood cancer cell therapy, Orca Bio has named Bijan Nejadnik, M.D., as its next chief medical officer, while former CMO J. Scott McClellan, M.D., Ph.D., is pivoting to the new role of chief development officer. Release
> Mark Throsby, Ph.D., is the new CEO of antibody-focused ATB Therapeutics, after previously serving as the biotech’s chief scientific officer and executive chairman. In the meantime, co-founders Bertrand Magy and Max Houry will become chief operating officer and chief business officer, respectively. Release
> French cancer immunotherapy outfit HEPHAISTOS-Pharma has a new top doctor in Stephan Braun, M.D., who will spearhead development of the company’s lead TLR4 agonist as chief medical officer. Release
> Anaveon is strengthening its executive team with a new chief scientific officer in seasoned immunology leader Eric Zanelli, Ph.D., as well as bringing in Jill Jene, Ph.D., as chief business officer. Release
> Longtime drug development leader Diego Miralles, M.D., is joining the team at Artiva Biotherapeutics as its head of R&D. Release
> Passkey Therapeutics is unlocking a new chief medical officer in Mandeep Kaur, M.D., who comes from Amgen following its Horizon Therapeutics acquisition. Release
> Angel Angelov, M.D., will help guide Vistagen’s mission to pioneer a new class of intranasal medicines as its chief medical officer. Release
> Theromics selected interventional oncology expert Andrew Zeringue to take over as CEO at the ablation therapeutics-focused biotech. Release
