October 2024 • PharmaTimes Magazine • 36-37
// YOUR MOVES //
Your Moves
Mover of the Month
Transgene has appointed Emmanuelle Dochy as Chief Medical Officer and Maurizio Ceppi as Chief Scientific Officer.
Emmanuelle succeeds Dr Maud Brandely as she enters retirement. She will lead the company’s clinical development efforts including overseeing important upcoming data readouts from Transgene’s portfolio.
Meanwhile, Maurizio’s extensive background in oncology and clinical research positions him to lead scientific innovation at Transgene, focusing on designing and developing novel cancer immunotherapies.
Emmanuelle brings over 15 years of pharmaceutical industry experience working in multiple medical affairs roles focused on oncology.
Most recently, Emmanuelle was Vice President of the Global Medical Affairs Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors (TKIs) Oncology Franchise and Scientific Partnerships Head at Bayer, where she was responsible for the development of TKIs in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors from phase 1 to phase 2 across several indications in oncology.
Maurizio also brings over 15 years of experience in oncology in the life sciences industry, specialising in cancer immunotherapy and precision medicine. He has played a pivotal role in the preclinical and clinical development of a range of therapies, including monoclonal and bispecific antibodies, small molecules and mRNA vaccines.
Alessandro Riva MD, Chairman and CEO of Transgene, commented: “Their extensive expertise in oncology and proven track records in advancing programmes through clinical development, as well as their deep knowledge of precision medicines, make Emmanuelle and Maurizio highly valued additions to our team.”
minds + assembly welcomes Fabio Gratton as an Advisor to its Board of Directors.
Fabio brings 25 years of expertise in founding and scaling healthcare digital agencies to minds + assembly – experience that is a perfect addition as it continues to expand and grow as the world’s premier, design-first partner to healthcare brands.
A serial entrepreneur and health tech innovator, Fabio founded his first company, Ignite Health, in 2000, selling it seven years later.
Since then, he has founded numerous companies, from story-driven consultancy SONIC Health, to influencer-powered clinical trial recruitment platform CureClick, and AI voice-powered market research company inVibe Labs.
In his role as Advisor, Fabio will serve as counsel for minds + assembly’s leadership team, advising them on matters such as culture and acquisitions as the firm continues to grow as a full-service commercialisation partner.
"I've spent much of my career building companies from the ground up, but what attracted me to minds + assembly was its ambitious nature," says Fabio. "Sure, minds + assembly already has the infrastructure in place, but the team is open to new ideas, which I'm hoping to help provide input.
“As companies like minds + assembly progress, it's beneficial to have someone in their corner with the right experience to help facilitate this growth – someone who knows what it takes. I'm looking forward to seeing how my experience combined with the unwavering potential of this firm can make a real difference for them, their services and their clients."
4basebio has announced the appointment of Dr Amy Walker as Chief Operating Officer of the Company.
Amy joined 4basebio in November 2020 and has served as the Vice President of Research and Business Development at the company.
She has a background in molecular biology and gene editing technologies, along with associated nucleic acid nanoparticle delivery platforms.
Amy has many years scientific and commercial experience in life sciences, has published scientific papers and is named inventor on numerous multidisciplinary patents. She currently holds non-executive director Board positions on two other high growth healthcare companies.
Meanwhile, the company has also formed a Strategic Advisory Board, with the purpose of offering the company’s leadership team valuable advice and industry insight spanning technical, operational, commercial and strategic matters as well as supporting the company in the realisation of its growth goals and objectives.
The members include Deborah Barbara, Lawrence Pitcher and Bertrand Coissac.
Sphere Fluidics has announced the appointment of Dr Alex Dickinson to its Board of Directors as a Non-Executive Director (NED).
Alex is a seasoned executive bringing substantial experience from the intersection of healthcare, life sciences and information technology to Sphere Fluidics’ leadership team.
He joins the Board as part of a series of significant senior appointments to drive forward the company’s global commercial expansion strategy, leveraging Alex’s extensive entrepreneurial and technical expertise to augment increased R&D efforts in areas of cutting-edge technological advancement.
From 2010 to 2017, Alex was Senior Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at Illumina,
In this position, he founded and led development of the cloud-based BaseSpace platform, which remains the Company’s core bioinformatics offering, and ran its global population sequencing healthcare programmes.
Alex joined Illumina through the acquisition of Helixis, which he co-founded with Nobel laureate David Baltimore and led as CEO. He was also the Founder and CEO of Luxtera, a leading supercomputer chip company acquired by Cisco Systems in 2019.
Alex enthused: “What really excites me about joining Sphere Fluidics is the talent across the team and the capabilities of its microfluidic technology, with many cutting-edge developments already in the pipeline. Having worked closely with Dale at Illumina and Helixis, I am looking forward to joining him again to drive success at this pivotal stage in the company’s development.”
VarmX has appointed experienced life sciences industry executive, Martijn Negen as COO, with immediate effect.
Since September 2023, Martijn has been supporting VarmX as SVP Global Commercial Strategy & Business Development, and is now stepping up to the COO role.
He brings over 25 years’ experience in shaping strategy and executing and overseeing commercialisation efforts as well as global business development in the pharmaceutical/biotech sector.
Most recently, Martijn was Vice President of Global Commercial Strategy & Business Development at AM-Pharma, leading commercial strategy development and global launch preparations. Prior to that he held leadership positions at Portola Pharmaceuticals, Teva Global Specialty Medicines, Genentech and other large pharmaceutical companies in the US and Europe.
Martijn holds an International MBA from Pepperdine University and TSM Business School, an International MSc in Medical Biotechnology from De Montfort University and a degree in Medical Laboratory Technology with a focus on immunology.
Dr Jan Öhrström, Chairman of VarmX, said: “Martijn has been an invaluable driving force within VarmX in recent months and we are pleased that he will now have a broader role. He brings decades of management and commercialisation experience particularly within urgent hospital care, including at Portola – launching the only approved medication in our field.”
Cerevance has appointed Dr Sagar Vaidya as Chief Medical Officer. Sagar brings a wealth of experience in drug development, clinical research and medical affairs, with a distinguished track record in advancing therapeutic programmes for severe and life-threatening diseases.
Sagar joins Cerevance from Travere Therapeutics, where he served as Vice President of Clinical Development.
At Travere Therapeutics, he provided clinical and organisational leadership for the CNS and metabolism pipeline, overseeing several key programmes from early-stage development to late-stage clinical trials.
His strategic direction led to significant milestones, including the positive read-out of a phase 1/2 proof-of-concept study for pegtibatinase and the advancement of bile acid products through phase 3.
"We are thrilled to welcome Dr Vaidya to the Cerevance team as we prepare to launch our phase 3 clinical trial of solengepras for Parkinson’s disease," said Craig Thompson, CEO of Cerevance. "His extensive expertise in CNS disorders and proven leadership in drug development will be instrumental as we continue to advance our pipeline of innovative therapies aimed at addressing unmet medical needs."
"I am honoured to join Cerevance at such an exciting time in the company’s growth," added Sagar. "I look forward to working with the talented team at Cerevance to develop and deliver transformative new therapies for people and families suffering from CNS disorders."
His career spans over 20 years across academia and the biotech and pharmaceutical industries, where he has held multiple leadership roles.
PharmaTimes
PharmaTimes is the UK’s leading pharmaceutical magazine, tracking the trends and issues that affect the industry here in the UK, in Europe and across the world. We deliver independent, authoritative and trustworthy content through impartial, balanced and informed opinion and analysis.