New hires:
Biotech CytoDyn appointed Dr. Jacob Lalezari as interim CEO and also tapped Antonio Migliarese, who had been serving as interim president since May, to resume his previous role as CFO.
Lalezari has been a longtime adviser to the company, previously serving as interim chief medical officer as well as a member of the scientific advisory board.
Virpax Pharmaceuticals named Gerald Bruce as CEO.
Executive elevations:
John Trizzino was assigned the newly created role of president and chief operating officer of Novavax. Trizzino will also serve on the company’s executive leadership team.
Board appointments:
Clinical-stage biopharma C4 Therapeutics named life sciences veteran Owen Hughes to its board of directors.
Rakovina Therapeutics appointed Professor Petra Hamerlik, chair of translational neuro-oncology at the University of Manchester and former CNS cancer bioscience lead at AstraZeneca, to its scientific advisory board.
SAB Biotherapeutics announced that JDRF T1D Fund LLC managing director Katie Ellias joined its board of directors.
Mercury Bio named former BioLife Solutions CEO Mike Rice to its board of directors.
Departures:
In addition to elevating Trizzino, Novavax announced that chief legal officer and corporate secretary John Herrmann will retire effective December 8 and will be succeeded by Mark Casey on December 11.
Due to ongoing litigation, Virpax also accepted the resignation of Anthony P. Mack as CEO and chairman.
Deals:
BeiGene announced that it would acquire an exclusive global license to Ensem Therapeutics’ investigational and potentially best-in-class oral CDK2 inhibitor EXT-197, which could be potentially worth up to $1.3 billion in milestone payments.
Spectrum Science acquired a pair of healthcare agencies, purchasing CrowdPharm and Hot Iron Health (HIH). The 2023 MM+M Agency 100 honoree bought CrowdPharm, which was a 2022 MM+M Agency 100 honoree, as well as its partner consultancy HIH.
Funding rounds:
Viva Biotech completed a $210 million funding round.
Carmot Therapeutics filed for an initial public offering to raise $100 million.
Alto Neuroscience raised $45 million in an oversubscribed Series C financing round.
Industry news:
AstraZeneca debuted the health-tech company Evinova, which will focus on digital technology and AI in clinical trials
Omnix Medical said the Food and Drug Administration approved a planned Phase II trial of its novel anti-infective OMN6.
In a lawsuit unsealed earlier this week, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton accused Pfizer and its supplier Tris Pharma of providing children’s ADHD medicine that it knew might be ineffective to the state’s Medicaid insurance program for low-income people.
A drug Merck is developing for chronic cough failed to win over a panel of advisors to the FDA, making approval unlikely.
The FDA also warned healthcare providers and facilities not to use Cardinal Health’s Monoject syringes with patient-controlled pain management pumps and syringe pumps.
Enanta Pharmaceuticals slashed its fiscal 2024 spending guidance.
Molecular diagnostics company BillionToOne announced a global collaboration to provide its UNITY fetal antigen clinical trial assay to Janssen for a Phase 3 clinical trial.
Bristol Myers Squibb and 2seventy bio said the FDA delayed action on their cancer treatment Abecma.
Evoke’s Inizio unveiled Inizio Launch Elevate, a connected suite of its capabilities designed to accelerate and simplify product launches for both global pharma and biotech companies.
Medtronic raised its fiscal 2024 forecast thanks to strong sales of its surgical and diabetes devices.
Morgan Stanley co-president Andy Saperstein was diagnosed with cancer, but said he plans to keep working as he begins to receive treatment.
