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 Donavyn Coffey, Marissa Russo and Will Maddox, and it will be featured here at the end of each week.
Neumora shuffles leadership ahead of IND
Neumora Therapeutics
Joshua Pinto, Ph.D., has been appointed CEO of Neumora Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotech with obesity and neuro assets. Joining the company in 2021 as chief financial officer, he most recently served as president. He will step into the shoes of Neumora co-founder Paul Berns, who has been appointed executive chair of Neumora’s board.
Neumora is also naming Doron Sagman, M.D., as the company’s chief medical officer. Prior to joining Neumora, Sagman held senior leadership roles at Eli Lilly Canada, including vice president of R&D/medical affairs, and was chief medical officer at Mind Cure Health.
The appointments arrive ahead of Neumora's goal of submitting an IND and initiating a phase 1 study of its NLRP3 inhibitor for patients with obesity, as well as data readouts from its phase 1 Alzheimer’s and schizophrenia programs. Release
Juvena’s new CEO to guide phase 2 neuromuscular studies
Juvena Therapeutics
Neuromuscular and rare disease-focused Juvena Therapeutics named Julie Anne Smith as the new CEO as the biotech advances its first-in-class biologic, JUV-161, through phase 2 clinical development. Smith will also aid in executing the global Eli Lilly collaboration to advance additional muscle and metabolic health programs using their AI-enabled platform, JuvNET.
California-based Juvena specializes in developing AI-enabled regenerative biologics to restore tissue function by translating insights from human stem cell biology into engineered therapeutics, according to the company. Their lead asset, JUV-161, is being tested in a phase 2a study in patients with unilateral limb immobilization.
Smith comes to Juvena with two decades of executive leadership experience, including stints in commercial and operational leadership at Enobia Pharma, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Sanofi-owned Genzyme and Bristol Myers Squibb. Release
Longevica appoints CEO to lead drug development
Longevica Therapeutics
Longevica Therapeutics named Prasun Mishra, M.D., as its new chief executive officer and a member of its board of directors. The appointment comes on the heels of Longevica’s finalized longevity research, a $13 million in vivo mammalian screening program that evaluated more than 1,000 small molecule candidates. Mishra comes aboard as Longevica moves to leverage the new longevity data sets for systematic drug development.
Before joining Longevica, Mishra held positions at Genentech, Roche, the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute, among others. He’s led 12 drug candidates to clinical trials and four drugs through regulatory approval. Longevica is betting on this track record for commercial translation as it works to convert longevity data sets into druggable targets and development programs. Release
> Monoclonal antibody biotech 4C Biomed has named former AstraZeneca head of oncology Alan Barge as its new CEO, while former chief Eyal Greenberg moves into the roles of chief development officer and general manager of R&D, according to a release shared with Fierce.
> Jorge Reis-Filho, Ph.D., is the new chief strategy officer and operating partner at Foresite Labs while also joining Foresite Capital as a venture partner. In his roles, he will help translate technology into new products while providing oversight across venture formation. Release
> Vistagen, which focuses on central nervous system diseases, has named Angel Angelov, M.D., as its chief medical officer. Angelov most recently held the same role at Theranica, a neuromodulation therapeutics company. Release
> Israel-based Entera Bio appoints Takeda and Novartis alum Riccardo Paolo Camisasca, M.D., as chief medical officer ahead of a phase 3 study of its oral anabolic treatment for osteoporosis. Release
> HotSpot Therapeutics, which focuses on allosteric drugs, appointed Niti Goel, M.D., as the new chief medical officer. The Boston-based biotech’s small molecule IRF5 inhibitor is poised to enter the clinic for patients with lupus and other autoimmune diseases. Release
> Belgium biotech Coultreon Biopharma welcomed Gilead, AstraZeneca and Amgen alum Prista Charuworn, M.D., as chief medical officer to help accelerate development of phase 2 studies in autoimmune disease. Release
> SFA Therapeutics has named its chairman of more than four years, Shawn Patrick O’Brien, as its new CEO. O’Brien will help see SFA’s phase 1 success in psoriasis through commercial development. Release