Check out a roundup of this week’s medical marketing news, executives on the move and industry chatter.
New hires:
Sermo alum Michael Joachim joined Sharecare as EVP and general manager of life sciences.
Evoke, an Inizio company, tabbed Cris Morton as group president of marketing. The agency veteran comes to Evoke after previous leadership stints at Havas Health & You, FCB Health and TBWA/World Health.
Corcept Therapeutics hired former Heartflow CFO Monica Tellado to serve as president of emerging markets.
Clinical-stage biotech ProfoundBio added Erin Lavelle as chief operating officer and chief financial officer along with Kevin Hambly as chief business officer.
VTV Therapeutics appointed Thomas Strack, MD as chief medical officer.
Medical marketing agency CMI Media Group hired Danielle Koffer as EVP, group client director.
The Global Virus Network tabbed renowned public health expert Sten Vermund as president.
Frazier Life Sciences added former Latigo Biotherapeutics CEO Scott Wasserman, MD as the latest member of its venture partners team.
PatientPoint recently unveiled a suite of leadership hires within its client strategy, analytics and sales teams.
Executive elevations:
Danaher promoted Christopher Riley from VP and group executive of the organization’s life sciences company with responsibility for genomic medicines to EVP for biotechnology, reporting to CEO Rainer Blair.
Envision Pharma Group elevated chief commercial officer Dominic (Nick) Marasco to the role of executive president and chief commercial officer.
Board appointments:
Bristol Myers Squibb unanimously elected CEO Christopher Boerner, PhD to serve as chair of the board, effective April 1, 2024. Boerner, who took over as CEO in April, succeeds Giovanni Caforio, MD, who will step down as chair of the board next year.
The Ad Council named 18 members to its board, including several notable advertising and pharma executives like Dentsu Americas CEO Michael Komasinski; Ryan Linder, EVP & Global Chief Marketing Officer at Stagwell; Shannon Nunn, managing director at TBWA\Chiat\Day NY; Drew Panayiotou, global chief marketing officer at Pfizer and DeepIntent CEO Chris Paquette.
Additionally, the Ad Council’s Leadership Council was bolstered by the appointments of Amanda Tolleson, global chief marketing officer at WeightWatchers; Datonics CEO Michael Benedek as well as Black Glass CEO Katie Klumper.
Long Island-based life sciences company Enzo Labs selected Steven J. Pully, a partner of Speyside Partners, for its board of directors.
The Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare appointed David Baiada as chairman of the board.
Curative Biotechnology nominated Dr. Jeffrey Liebmann to its board of directors.
Departures:
Peter Lebowitz, Johnson & Johnson’s longtime chief of oncology research and development, is taking his final bow at the pharma giant.
Two top executives, Robert Ho and Adrian Ray, left Third Harmonic Bio, which has already launched searches for their respective successors.
Layoffs:
Pfizer is in the process of closing a facility in New Jersey, which will go into effect early next year. The pharma company, which reported a net loss of $2.3 billion on Tuesday after reporting $8.6 billion in net income this time last year, previously announced the closure of two facilities in North Carolina as well as a number of layoffs in Colorado.
As part of its earnings report release, Seres Therapeutics laid off 160 workers.
According to a notice filed with regulators, CVS Health is slated to lay off 90 employees across New Jersey at the start of 2024.
Months removed from a $401 million Series D funding round, ElevateBio cut 13% of its staff.
Galapagos announced that 100 employees would be laid off as part of a deal with Alfasigma.
Rani Therapeutics discontinued its RT-101 program and said it would reduce its headcount by 25%.
Deals:
United Therapeutics acquired life sciences company Miromatrix for around $91 million plus an additional $1.75 per share upon hitting certain milestones.
Gilead’s Kite unit entered into a research collaboration with Epicrispr Biotechnologies to develop next-gen cancer cell therapies.
Eli Lilly exercised its option to Sitryx’s SIT-011 for chronic autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.
MEI Pharma entered into a cooperation agreement with Anson Funds and Cable Car Capital for a capital return of up to $3.15 per share.
Merck KGaA paid $169 million upfront in a licensing and option agreement for a pair of oncology assets from Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals.
Preventative health and longevity company Viome acquired Naring Health to further its lead in the space.
Industry news:
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and Moderna entered into a strategic partnership to accelerate the development of vaccines against viral disease outbreaks with the company’s mRNA technology.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration selected JPA Health to spearhead its national recovery campaign.
Walmart Health entered into a collaborative agreement with Ambetter from Sunshine Health and Orlando Health.
Sanofi honored 10 advocacy organizations for promoting health equity solutions in underserved communities across the country.
Propel Health merged agencies Centron and Fusion Medical Communications to launch Propel Health Communications.
Former Paige CEO Leo Grady, PhD launched Jona, a personalized health company that uses AI to analyze the gut microbiome, and raised $5 million in a funding round led by Breyer Capital and Meridian Street Capital.
Phathom Pharmaceuticals announced that the Food and Drug Administration approved reformulated vonoprazan tablets for Voquenza Triple Pak (vonoprazan, amoxicillin, clarithromycin) and Voquenza Dual Pak (vonoprazan, amoxicillin) for treating H. pylori infection in adults.
Renaye James Healthcare Advisors launched a training division to support community health centers across the U.S.
Stevanato Group released its latest earnings report and said it will continue to increase its investments in biologics.
