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.
Metsera acquisition architect swings to Structure
Structure Therapeutics
After helping guide Metsera through its high-profile, $10 billion acquisition by Pfizer last year, Matthew Lang is swinging over to a different obesity biotech as chief operating officer and general counsel at Structure Therapeutics. At Structure, Lang will play a key role in advancing the company’s oral, once-daily GLP-1 candidate aleniglipron into phase 3 trials. Last month, Structure reported that patients taking aleniglipron achieved 16% weight loss in a phase 2 trial—results the company described as the strongest to date for an oral GLP-1 therapy.
Before Metsera, Lang served as chief legal officer at Lyell Immunopharma and held several executive roles at Myovant Sciences, where he supported the company through phase 3 development, regulatory approval and commercialization of endometriosis med Myfembree and cancer treatment Orgovyx. He kicked off his biopharma career with an 8-year stint as VP of legal at Gilead Sciences. Release
Vir CMO exits after less than 2 years
Vir Biotechnology
After less than two years on the job, Mark Eisner, M.D., is stepping down as chief medical officer at Vir effective April 24, with the biotech now on the hunt for his successor. Eisner originally joined Vir during a transitional time for the company, after new CEO Marianne De Backer, Ph.D., came on board from Bayer and the biotech’s previous CMO, chief operating officer, chief financial officer and chief administrative officer all departed. Eisner vaulted to Vir in June 2024 from Sonoma Biotherapeutics, where he also served a short 10-month stint as chief medical officer. Filing
Leal reels in Big Pharma vets to exec team
Leal Therapeutics
Leal Therapeutics is filling out its executive team with two ex-Big Pharma pulls in Johannes Tauscher, M.D., and Raymond Jordt, who will serve as chief medical officer and chief business officer, respectively. Both Tauscher and Jordt spent a portion of their careers at Eli Lilly, where Tauscher led early CNS clinical development and Jordt more recently headed up corporate business development across several therapeutic areas. Tauscher spent 12 years at Takeda after his stint at Lilly, working on clinical imaging and translational research until his July departure.
Both new appointments will help Leal move its schizophrenia candidate LTX-001 and ALS prospect LTX-002 further along and position the 2021-established company for further growth. Release
> Prothena Corporation doled out two promotions as chief legal officer Michael Malecek prepares to hit the exit in June, naming Michael Isaacs his successor as general counsel and corporate secretary, while Annie Kingston takes the chief strategy officer role, leaving Tran Nguyen to relinquish his previously dual roles to only the chief financial officer position. Release
> ALX Oncology is arming itself with a new chief development and operating officer as it approaches its next growth phase, bringing experienced executive Jeff Knight on board for the role. Release
> AbbVie vet Mohit Trikha, Ph.D., is moving from chief operating officer to CEO at Kivu Bioscience two years after first joining the antibody-drug conjugate biotech in 2024. Release
> Asgard Therapeutics beefed up its leadership team with the appointment of Wolfram Brugger, M.D., Ph.D., who has been involved in more than 130 oncology trials across his career, as chief medical officer. Release
> Andrew Fang, Ph.D., is sinking his teeth into a new role as head of business development at Tempest Therapeutics, where he will lead the company’s global BD efforts with a particular focus on expanding outreach in China. Release
> Parabilis Medicines pulled in a new chief business and strategy officer in Helen Ho, Ph.D., a seasoned biopharma exec who previously served in the same role at Blueprint Therapeutics. Release
> Protein degradation specialist Laigo Bio has a new top scientist in Richard Sainson, Ph.D., who previously held the chief scientific officer title at Advesya. Release
> OSE Immunotherapeutics is supporting new CEO Marc Le Bozec with the promotion of Thomas Gidoin to deputy CEO and Aurore Morello, Ph.D., to chief scientific officer. Release
> Oryon Cell Therapies is onboarding Burkhard Blank, M.D., as chief medical officer to oversee the development of neuron replacement medicines for neurodegenerative diseases. Release
> Charles Morris is starting a new chapter as chief medical officer of precision oncology outfit Prelude Therapeutics. Release
> Australian cancer company Kazia Therapeutics has named epigenetics expert Sudha Rao, Ph.D., as chief scientific officer. Release
> French biotech Enodia Therapeutics is looking to enhance its protein degradation efforts with new Chief Scientific Officer Yvonne McGrath, Ph.D. Release
> Tango Therapeutics, a company focused on pancreatic cancer, has appointed Matthew Gall as chief financial officer, Yen-Ching Chua as chief development operations officer and Janice Kapty, Ph.D., as senior vice president of corporate strategy and project leadership. Release
> Danish biotech MinervaX has appointed Jamila Louahed as chief development officer and Hans Henrik Chrois Christensen as chief financial officer to support the company’s development of a vaccine against group B streptococcus. Release
> Drug discoverer Evotec has named Ingrid Müller as chief operating officer. She brings more than 20 years of international leadership experience in the life sciences industry, spanning operations, strategy, supply, procurement and R&D. Release
> Caren Deardorf will help guide corporate direction as chief business and strategy officer at Neutrolis, a clinical-stage biotech focused on autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Release
> Alethio Therapeutics has named Steve Coats, Ph.D., as chief development officer, where he will help advance the company’s newly unveiled essential thrombocythemia asset, ATX-011. Release
> Andrew Goldberg, M.D., is the new CEO of late-stage specialty pharmaceutical company Achieve Life Sciences. He most recently served as a portfolio manager at Marshall Wace and was previously a partner at Vivo Capital. Release
> Valo Health has announced that Chris Anagnostopoulos, Ph.D., will fill the newly created position of chief causal AI officer. Release
