Biogen appointed Jane Grogan as EVP and head of research Wednesday, starting the role effective next month.
Grogan joins Biogen from her most recent post as a biopharma advisor and strategic consultant, having previously served as a board member of the Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies since 2021.
Her prior experience includes two years as a scientific advisory board member at Bicycle Therapeutics, as well as two years at Graphite Bio, where she served as chief scientific officer.
Grogan also spent more than 15 years at Genentech, most recently as head of adaptive tumor immunity and a principal scientist in cancer immunology. Before that, she was a senior scientist of immunology at the company.
During her time at Genentech, Grogan worked on research strategies and drug development in therapeutic areas spanning rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis and cancer. Her research focused mostly on T-cell activation and epigenetic modifiers.
“Dr. Grogan is a pioneering scientist whose groundbreaking discoveries at Genentech helped pave the way for development of targeted autoimmune and oncology therapies,” Biogen CEO Christopher Viehbacher in a statement. “I believe Jane will be a strong asset to Biogen as we seek to bring a greater number of innovative medicines to market faster and more effectively.”
Viehbacher added that Grogan will work with Biogen’s EVP and head of development, Priya Singhal, to “determine the company’s portfolio strategy with the aim of creating value and making decisions aligned with our scientific expertise and translational capabilities.”
The new hire comes after Biogen announced a cost-saving program dubbed “Fit for Growth,” which it hopes will generate $1 billion in gross operating expense savings by 2025. Part of that program involved cutting 1,000 jobs to save about $700 million, the company announced in July.
Biogen has also readjusted its pipeline leading up to the launch of its Alzheimer’s drug, Leqembi, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration this summer.
It dropped a late-stage Parkinson’s program along with several preclinical gene therapies this year.
At the time, Viehbacher noted that the re-shifting of the pipeline was a sign that “Biogen’s business is in transition,” and that “while we will be making significant investments in our newly prioritized pipeline and new product launches, we will also need to invest less in other areas which are no longer growing.”
