New hires:
Doceree made a number of additions to its leadership team, naming Marcella Milliet Sciorra, the former chief marketing officer at DeepIntent, to the same post.
In addition to her hire, point-of-care messaging company promoted Kamya Elawadhi, who previously worked as SVP of North America and EU as well as corporate strategy and customer success, to the role of chief client officer. Doceree also named George Musi to the role of EVP and GM of Doceree Enterprise.
HilleVax appointed Sean McLoughlin as chief operating officer.
Erin O’Malley was named executive director of the Coalition for Trust in Health & Science.
Neurogene hired former Homology Medicines executive Julie Jordan, MD to serve as chief medical officer.
Envision Pharma Group added Carolyn Bartholdson as chief people officer and Alice Choi as president of integrated medical capabilities and solutions.
BRG Communications added Susan Goodell Gouard as SVP.
Late-stage biopharma Neuvivo named Dr. James Kovach as chief medical affairs officer.
Inizio Engage appointed Chris Savage as MD of Propensity4.
Executive elevations:
Walgreens Boots Alliancepromoted Beth Leonard to SVP and chief corporate affairs officer following the retirement of Chuck Greener.
Board appointments:
LiveWorld, a 2023 MM+M Agency 100 honoree, named Jennifer Sherak, former SVP and president of specialty physician services at AmerisourceBergen, and Helen S. Chang, RPh, the former vice president of marketing at Mesoblast Limited, to its board of directors.
Day One Biopharmaceuticals named Habib Dable and Dr. William Grossman to its board of directors.
Departures:
BioMarin’s chief commercial officer Jeff Ajer is leaving the company and will continue leading commercial operations in the interim while the firm seeks a permanent replacement.
Andrei Floroiu resigned as president, chief executive and a director of clinical-stage biotech Vaxart.
FDA:
Vertex Pharmaceuticals received approval for Casgevy to treat transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia in patients 12 years and older.
The agency declined to approve Japan-based Shin Nippon Biomedical Laboratories‘ treatment for acute migraine due to manufacturing concerns.
The agency approved the use of Takeda Pharmaceuticals’ HyQvia to treat chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy.
Pleco Therapeutics receives an orphan drug designation for PTX-252 for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia.
The agency granted clearance to DermaSensor for an AI-powered medical device to detect all three common types of skin cancer.
Layoffs:
California-based biotech Allakos is axing its workforce by about 50%.
Dewpoint Therapeutics slashed 15% of its staff after Merck and Pfizer broke off partnerships with the company.
Reagent manufacturer Alpha Teknova cut 15% of its workers to save around $6.4 million.
Bay Area-based biotechs Lonza Biologics and Personalis planned to eliminate a combined 280 jobs.
Deals:
Finnish pharma company Orion Corporation invested $415.6 million for a 25% stake in Korean biotech LegoChem Biosciences.
Washington University and Deerfield Management launched VeritaScience as a private research and development collaboration to advance drug discovery.
Baby and parenting lifestyle brand Infantino acquires baby accessory brand BooginHead.
Sexual healthcare provider TBD Health partnered with both women’s telehealth company Wisp and LGBTQIA+ focused digital healthcare firm Folx Health.
Agepha Pharma and Caristo Diagnostics announced today their collaboration to improve awareness and clinical education about the impact of inflammation in coronary artery disease.
Ad tech firm Viant Technology announced a new integration with PurpleLab, a healthcare analytics company.
Sinovac’s board of directors unanimously rejected an unsolicited partial tender offer from Alternative Liquidity Index LP.
Funding rounds:
BridgeBio Pharma secured up to $1.25 billion in capital from Blue Owl Capital and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board to accelerate the development and launch of genetic medicines.
GSK raised $1.24 billion from a discounted sale of a stake in its spun-off consumer healthcare business Haleon.
Arena BioWorks launched with $500 million in private funding to speed up the path to drug discovery.
Dyne Therapeutics raised $345 million in its initial public offering (IPO).
Bladder cancer biotech CG Oncology set the terms for a $201 million IPO.
Alto Neuroscience filed for a $100 million IPO.
Biotech startup Tr1x launched from stealth with $75 million in funding.
Cleveland Diagnostics completed a $75 million financing round.
Comanche Biopharma brought in a $75 million Series B funding round and named former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb to its board of directors.
California-based Kyverna Therapeutics filed for an IPO next month.
Industry news:
Germany’s trade union IG BCE pushed back against a possible split-up of Bayer.
Apple dropped the blood oxygen feature from its Apple Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra 2 devices to comply with U.S. Customs and Border Protection requirements.
A judge ordered activist investor Carl Icahn to remove confidential information in his lawsuit against Illumina related to its failed $8 billion purchase of Grail.
The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health launched the Platform Accelerating Rural Access to Distributed & InteGrated Medical care program to improve rural health outcomes.
Galderma announced positive topline results from a Phase 3 clinical trial investigating the use of RelabotulinumtoxinA to treat glabellar lines (frown lines) and lateral canthal lines (crow’s feet).
Biotech entrepreneur and former Roivant Sciences CEO Vivek Ramaswamy dropped out of the presidential race after he ranked fourth place in the Iowa caucuses.
Celularity CEO Robert Hariri said the company expects to report 2023 revenue that is 23% to 27% higher than the previous year.
A Fitbit study conducted in collaboration with Quest Diagnostics has plans to evaluate how wearables – including the Pixel Watch – can improve a person’s health.
The Mayo Clinic Diet unveiled the beta launch of the Mayo Clinic Diet Medical Weight Loss Rx Program.
The New York City Fire Department ordered all firetruck and ambulance personnel to mask up while rendering patient care due to recent outbreaks of infectious diseases.
Thermo Fisher Scientific launched an automation solution designed to connect and integrate workflows across multiple company cell therapy instruments while enabling cGMP compliance.
