Jan 11, 2020

BIOCENTURY Print Management Tracks: Wave CFO departs; plus Polaris, Turning Point, ADC, Relmada, Aravive, Affimed, Impel, Candel and more By BioCentury Staff | Jan 11, 2020 | 1:54 AM GMT Wave Life Sciences Ltd. (NASDAQ:WVE) disclosed in an SEC filing that CFO Keith Regnante stepped down to pursue other opportunities. VP and Corporate Controller David Gaiero will serve as interim CFO, principal accounting officer and principal financial officer (see “More Waves to Come” ). Polaris Partners hired former Lilly exec Darren Carroll as partner. He stepped down as SVP, corporate business development of Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE:LLY) in August after working at the pharma for 22 years, during which he oversaw the $8 billion takeout of Loxo Oncology Inc. last January. Carroll also formed and led Lilly Ventures and Lilly Asia Ventures (see “Lilly to Acquire Loxo” ). Precision oncology company Turning Point Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:TPTX) said co-founder Jean Cui will step down as CSO, effective Jan. 31, due to family reasons. ADC Therapeutics S.A. hired Joseph Camardo as head of medical affairs. He was an executive at Celgene Corp. for 10 years, most recently as SVP of Celgene Global Health, as well as SVP at Wyeth from 1989-2010. Camardo joins as the company is readying its first BLA submission in the wake of Thursday’s positive data for loncastuximab tesirine (ADCT-402) in diffuse large B cell lymphoma (see “ADC’s Loncastuximab Data Could Clear Path for BLA, IPO Filing” ). Neurology company Relmada Therapeutics Inc. (OTCQB:RLMD) said Maged Shenouda will become CFO and step down from the board. He succeeds Charles Ence, who will become chief accounting and compliance officer. Shenouda was CFO and EVP of corporate development at AzurRx BioPharma Inc. (NASDAQ:AZRX). Aravive Inc. (NASDAQ:ARAV) hired Rekha Hemrajani as president and CEO and appointed her to the board. The cancer and fibrosis company’s previous CEO, Jay Shepard, will become chairman. Hemrajani was COO and CFO at Arcus Biosciences Inc. (NYSE:RCUS). Immuno-oncology company Affimed N.V. (NASDAQ:AFMD) hired Andreas Harstrick as CMO, effective March 2020, to succeed Leila Alland. He was CMO at Molecular Partners AG (SIX:MOLN). Impel NeuroPharma Inc., which is developing intranasal therapies for neurological diseases, appointed Adrian Adams as chairman. Adams was CEO at Aralez Pharmaceuticals Inc. and its predecessor Pozen Inc. Viral immuno-oncology company Candel Therapeutics hired Sandra Poole as COO. Poole was COO at LogicBio Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:LOGC) and serves on the boards of Retrophin Inc. (NASDAQ:RTRX), ViaCyte Inc. and Valneva SE (Euronext Paris:VLA; VSE:VLA). Neurology company TauC3 Biologics Ltd. appointed Andrew Heath as non-executive chairman and Shafique Virani as non-executive director. Heath is deputy chairman and senior independent director at Oxford BioMedica plc (LSE:OXB). Virani was CEO-in-residence at BridgeBio Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ:BBIO) and CEO of Navire Pharma Inc. and BridgeBio subsidiary CoA Therapeutics Inc. Glauconix Biosciences Inc. promoted Kim Southern to CEO from COO and appointed her to the board. The ophthalmic specialty pharma research company uses 3D tissue culture systems for drug development. Rare endocrine disease company MBX Biosciences made co-founder and board member Kent Hawryluk president and CEO. Hawryluk co-founded and was CBO at Avidity Biosciences LLC.