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 Darren Incorvaia or Zoey Becker and it will be featured here at the end of each week.
Former FDA deputy joins AI biotech’s board
Recursion Pharmaceuticals
Namandjé Bumpus, Ph.D.
Namandjé Bumpus, Ph.D. (Food and Drug Administration)
About three months after leaving her post as the FDA’s principal deputy commissioner, Namandjé Bumpus, Ph.D., has found a new venture as a member of Recursion’s board of directors. Bumpus departed the FDA in December after less than a year in the role, which she was promoted to after first joining the agency as chief scientist in 2022. Since leaving the FDA, Bumpus has founded a consulting firm, according to her LinkedIn account, offering strategy services on preclinical and clinical regulatory science and policy. Recursion uses generative AI and automated labs to find and develop drug candidates and currently has eight clinical-stage programs across oncology, rare disease and other therapeutic areas. Also joining Recursion’s board is Elaine Sun, the COO and CFO of Mammoth Biosciences. Release
Summit flags new CCO
Summit Therapeutics
Robert LaCraze is embarking on a new journey as chief commercial officer at Summit Therapeutics, effective immediately. The exec has spent more than 35 years working in leadership roles in the oncology divisions of prominent drugmakers such as Bayer and Bristol Myers Squibb and has received several accolades for his work. Most recently, LaCraze served as president and CEO of Mnemo Therapeutics. At 2023-founded Summit, he will help drive strategy for the company’s highly anticipated lead candidate, bispecific ivonescimab. Release
Struggling Cargo jettisons assets and execs
Cargo Therapeutics
Just a few months after dumping its lead asset and cutting its workforce in half, Cargo Therapeutics is jettisoning even more of its load. The CAR-T firm is dropping its B-cell disease prospect CRG-023 and suspending development of its allogeneic platform, along with cutting around 90% of its workforce. Joining the exodus is CEO Gina Chapman, who is being replaced in the interim by COO and CFO Anup Radhakrishnan. Other undisclosed executives are also out the door. Story
> Elevation Oncology is ditching its sole clinical-stage asset and laying off 70% of its staff, including Chief Medical Officer Valerie Malyvanh Jansen, M.D., Ph.D., who will step down at the end of the month. Story
> Industry vet Lisa von Moltke, M.D., is joining Zenas BioPharma as chief medical officer and head of R&D to help push the company’s lead autoimmune candidate through late-stage trials. Release
> Mind Medicine is adding former BioXcel exec Matt Wiley to the team as chief commercial officer, where he will work on strategy for the potential launch of an orally disintegrating tablet in anxiety and depression disorders. Release
> iOnctura found its chief business officer in Elizabeth Holt, co-founder of GSK-acquired Aiolos Bio and former partner at McKinsey & Company. Release
> Akari Therapeutics’ Samir Patel, M.D., is handing over the CEO reins to Jazz Pharmaceuticals’ former oncology franchise head Abizer Gaslightwala after 12 months at the helm. Release
> Thomas Trimarchi, Ph.D., was promoted to the president and chief financial officer seat at BridgeBio Pharma as longtime exec Brian Stephenson, Ph.D., splits from the company for personal reasons. Release
> Stoke Therapeutics CEO Edward Kaye, M.D., opted to step down from his role, leaving the company to appoint board member Ian Smith in the interim as it begins the hunt for a permanent replacement. Release
> Longtime Tonix Pharmaceuticals Executive Vice President of Product Development Siobhan Fogarty has been elevated to the C-suite, now serving as chief technical officer. Release
> Bríd Ryan, Ph.D., has secured a promotion at RNA-focused MiNA Therapeutics, where she is now chief scientific officer. Release
> Dyne Therapeutics is looking ahead to the potential approval and commercialization of two muscular dystrophy programs by appointing Erick Lucera as chief financial officer. Release
Chutes and Ladders Recursion Pharmaceuticals Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Summit Therapeutics Cargo Therapeutics Elevation Oncology Zenas BioPharma Akari Therapeutics BridgeBio Stoke Therapeutics Tonix Pharmaceuticals MiNA Therapeutics Dyne Therapeutics Biotech