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.
Sanofi vaccine vet vaults to GSK
GSK
After 25 years developing vaccines with French drugmaker Sanofi, Sanjay Gurunathan, M.D., has departed for GSK. Gurunathan will head up the British Big Pharma’s vaccine and infectious disease R&D from Boston, working under Chief Scientific Officer Tony Wood, Ph.D. Gurunathan had worked at Sanofi Vaccines since 2000, rising through the ranks to most recently serve as the global head of development and life cycle management portfolio strategy. He fills the role previously held by Phil Dormitzer, M.D., Ph.D., who departed GSK at the end of last year and has since started his own vaccine and biologics R&D consulting company. Story
Thiel acolyte there and back again at HHS
Department of Health and Human Services
Jim O’Neill, a Silicon Valley investor with tight ties to venture capitalist and Trump ally Peter Thiel, has returned to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as deputy secretary. O’Neill previously worked at the HHS from 2002 to 2008, including a stint as principal associate deputy secretary from 2007 to 2008. He previously spent seven years as a managing director at Thiel’s Mithril Capital Management (named after a fictional metal from "The Lord of the Rings"), and is also a co-founder of the Thiel Fellowship, meant to support young tech entrepreneurs. O’Neill was most recently the CEO of the SENS Research Foundation, a nonprofit focused on age-related diseases. Release
Formation taps squad of 4 resident entrepreneurs
Formation Bio
Four experienced dealmakers are forming the first class of entrepreneurs-in-residence at AI-focused Formation Bio. All set to work with the company’s chief business officer David Steinberg to strengthen its business development digs, Kia Motesharei, Ph.D., Minji Kim, Ph.D., John Taylor and Anthony Walsh each bring to the table decades of dealmaking experience across several different focus areas. Motesharei is credited with over 100 transactions at a handful of companies, Kim has a resume full of executive leadership roles, Walsh comes from a career at well-known biotech investment firms and Taylor is a co-founder and former CEO who previously helped launch another EIR program.
Formation Bio, previously known as TrialSpark, last year earned a spot on Fierce Biotech’s top money raisers of 2024 rankings after securing $372 million to expand its clinical pipeline. The company hopes its new class of EIRs will help in its goal of uncovering “overlooked or underdeveloped promising programs to transact on and develop.” Release
> Seasoned dealmaker Jared Kelly is poised to take the helm at Oncolytics Biotech, taking over from outgoing interim CEO Wayne Pisano. Release
> Antares Therapeutics has been born as a spinout of Scorpion Therapeutics set to be led by Scorpion’s former CEO Adam Friedman, M.D., Ph.D., and supported by a $177 million series A funding round. Story
> Nkarta’s chief medical officer and head of R&D David Shook, M.D., is bidding adieu to the autoimmune-disease-focused company in favor of heading back to the oncology field he started his career in, leaving Shawn Rose, M.D., Ph.D., to take over in the role. Release
> Former Bayer CEO Dieter Weinand is taking his 25 years of senior leadership experience to AstriVax Therapeutics as the chair of its board of directors, succeeding the company’s first chair Jeanne Bolger, M.D. Release
> Mike Kelliher is moving up the ladder at Ardelyx, joining the C-suite as chief business officer from his previous role of EVP of corporate development and strategy. Release
> Beacon Therapeutics is signaling new leadership with the appointment of Daniel Chung, M.D., who is hopping on as chief medical officer after leaving the same position at SparingVision. Release
> Pulmonologist Glenn Crater, M.D., intends to join Innospera Pharma as its full-time chief medical officer after first starting as a fractional appointment until the company’s lead compound hits the clinic. Release
> Fable Therapeutics wrote David Baker, Ph.D., into its story as chief scientific officer, marking the executive’s next chapter after a five-year run at AstraZeneca. Release
> Charles River vet Christophe Berthoux, M.D., is charged with leading Resonant Clinical Solutions’ next growth phase as its new CEO hire. Release
> Abcuro is filling up its cup with the addition of Courtney Cupples as chief commercial officer, bolstering the team as it moves toward a key 2026 readout. Release
> Courage Therapeutics, a biotech focused on obesity and eating disorders, has named former Medeor leader Giovanni Ferrara as CEO, while founding CEO Dan Housman will continue on as a board member. Release
> Bowel- and bladder-control-focused Dignify Therapeutics is looking to grow with new Chief Operating Officer Jeff Welch. Release
> AI biotech Genesis Therapeutics is going deep for its new chief AI officer, tapping Aleksandra Faust, Ph.D., former director of research at Google DeepMind, for the role. Release
> CAR T-focused Lyell Immunopharma is ramping up clinical activity with the appointments of David Shook, M.D., as chief medical officer, and Mark Meltz as general counsel and corporate secretary. Release
> Neurocrine Biosciences has nabbed Lewis Choi from Thermo Fisher Scientific to serve as the biotech’s chief information officer. Release
> Swiss biotech Idorsia has a new leader in Srishti Gupta, M.D., who replaces retiring André Muller. Release
> Day One Biopharmaceuticals is looking to advance its pipeline and the reach of approved pediatric brain tumor med Ojemda (tovorafenib) with the help of new head of R&D Michael Vasconcelles, M.D. Release
> Antibody-focused ATB Therapeutics has opened a new R&D hub in Ghent, Belgium, and hired argenx co-founder Torsten Dreier, Ph.D., as chief development officer. Release
> Matt Britz, the former CEO of AffyImmune, is swinging to fellow immunotherapy company Saros Therapeutics to take the helm as chief exec. Release (PDF)
> GI-focused biotech Cristcot is gearing up for the potential approval of its lead ulcerative colitis asset by bringing Richard Kim on board as chief commercial officer. Release