Leadership & People

In this week's podcast edition of Five Must-Know Things: a preview of the CTAD Alzheimer’s meeting; US myeloma drug withdrawal puts pressure on GSK; UniQure/CSL's gene therapy sets new US price record; new leadership at Teva; and Merck’s Frazier cautions against profit maximization.

Recent executive changes in the industry include C-suite changes at Sirnaomics and Horizon Therapeutics. Meanwhile, new directors were appointed at SIGA Technologies and Forte Biosciences.

Teva announced the appointment of former Sandoz CEO Richard Francis as its next leader as Kare Schultz steps down.

Pharma CEOs must balance optimizing access and profitability, former Merck CEO and soon-to-be ex executive chairman of the company said. Frazier says health care industry must come to table and admit the “system ain’t working,” talks about the need to protect democracy, in a sweeping interview at the STAT Summit.

Leaders from three companies that have managed to achieve successful turnarounds offered some advice and encouragement to biotechs weathering the current financial downturn at the recent Jefferies Healthcare conference in London.

Dr Toichi Takenaka, the first winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award in the inaugural Pharma Intelligence Awards Japan earlier this year, talks to Scrip about his journey from researcher to CEO and today as a mentor for Japanese bioventures. Starting his career in an “empty lab” in the 1960s motivated him to pursue a string of collaborations with universities in Japan and on to the discovery of four successful drugs.

After fighting for years to bridge the gender health gap where many women receive poorer treatment than men from academia and non-profits, Kelle Moley has moved into pharma with Ferring to further her vision.

Japan-UK firm is looking to build on a combination of internal and external assets to pursue a more independent business development path in Japan and beyond, in parallel with ongoing discovery and development collaborations.

Former Novartis executive and venture capitalist David Epstein will step in to lead Seagen after its founder resigned in a scandal and amid M&A speculation.

Christopher Viehbacher, former Sanofi CEO and current managing partner at Gurnet Capital, will be charged with returning Biogen to growth with a second big Alzheimer’s launch looming.

Recent executive moves in the industry include C-suite changes at Lipocine and Actinium Pharmaceuticals. Meanwhile, new directors were appointed at Immune-Onc Therapeutics and Blue Water Vaccines.

Codagenix hopes a 2023 data readout from its intranasal RSV vaccine will be an inflection point, even as GSK and Pfizer look to establish a lead in the segment. Meanwhile, a second cancer candidate has been added to Codagenix's preclinical pipeline and data for its COVID-19 vaccine and TNBC oncolytic virus are expected next year, CEO Robert Coleman tells Scrip.