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.
GSK chief steps down in stunning move
GSK
The first woman to helm a Big Pharma will be stepping down in January as GSK’s Emma Walmsley moves aside for her chief commercial officer Luke Miels. Walmsley, 56, who became the British pharma’s CEO back in 2017, will officially leave Jan. 1, 2026. Back in 2021, Walmsley took a major decision to de-merge GSK’s consumer health unit Haleon, leaving the Big Pharma's biopharma and vaccines divisions to stand on their own. While Walmsley had the support and confidence of GSK’s board, activist investment group Elliott Management started calling for change at the top, citing “years of under-management.”
Miels, 50, has been CCO at GSK since 2017, having global responsibility for medicines and vaccines as well as being “instrumental,” according to GSK, in building the company's specialty medicines portfolio, notably in oncology and respiratory. He previously served stints at Roche, Sanofi and AstraZeneca. Story
Cue queues up CEO transition
Cue Biopharma
Cue Biopharma’s CEO Daniel Passeri has passed the baton after nine years at the helm, transitioning to a strategic advisor role as experienced CEO Usman “Oz” Azam, M.D., takes over. Azam comes to Cue fresh off of a two-year stint as CEO of Inspirna, the most recent in a string of CEO positions across a handful of biotech companies. The exec’s 25-year-long industry background also includes cell and gene therapy leadership at Novartis, making him a fit to shepherd the growth of T-cell-focused Cue and its CUE-401, a tolerogenic biologic Azam thinks could “disrupt the standard of care” in autoimmune disease. Release
Quotient adds experienced drug developer
Quotient Therapeutics
Flagship Pioneering-backed Quotient is tapping a Big Pharma veteran to help spin drugs out of genomic data sets. Andrew Bayliffe, Ph.D., is the new chief development officer of Quotient, which he joins from Marengo Therapeutics, where he served as chief scientific officer and co-founder. Before Marengo, Bayliffe spent about 20 years at GSK, where he spearheaded clinical development of numerous programs and rose through the ranks to end his tenure as head of the British pharma’s respiratory and inflammation research unit. Release
> Inventiva is helping prep its liver disease drug candidate for commercialization by replacing its founding CEO Frédéric Cren with Andrew Obenshain, the ex-CEO of gene therapy maker Genetix (formerly known as bluebird bio). Release
> Joel Edwards is bringing his global business development expertise to Maxion Therapeutics as chief business officer, where he will help advance partnership discussions for the company’s KnotBody technology platform. Release
> As it readies its lead rare disease program for the clinic, Airna is bulking up its executive team with new additions in Chief Operating Officer Niru Subramanian and Chief Financial Officer Allison Dorval. Release
> Sotio Biotech promoted two of its leaders to the executive ranks with head of discovery Amy Jenson-Smith, Ph.D., becoming chief scientific officer and former chief of preclinical development Ulrich Moebius, Ph.D., taking on the chief development officer role. Release
> Veteran drug development leader Christophe Arbet-Engels, M.D., Ph.D., climbed to Altimmune as chief medical officer amid the planned retirement of Scott Harris, M.D. Release
> Revolution Medicines, expanding its global commercial footprint, tapped Alan Sandler, M.D., into its forces in the newly created role of chief development officer. Release
> Physician-scientist Mauro Avanzi, M.D., Ph.D., is signaling a new chapter as Dispatch Bio’s chief medical officer, helping advance its solid-tumor-focused Flare platform. Release
> Dana-Farber oncologist Anthony Letai, M.D., Ph.D., has been sworn in as the new leader of the National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute. Story
> Hussein Sweiti, M.D., is joining genetic medicine outfit enGene as chief medical officer from Johnson & Johnson, where he was global medical head of oncology clinical development. Release
> Astellas Pharma is saying goodbye to its chief digital and transformation officer Nick Eshkenazi, while also eliminating the role entirely and merging it with that of Chief Strategy Officer Adam Pearson. Release
> Vision-focused Aurion Biotech is gearing up for a phase 3 trial next year with the promotions of Andrew Torres, Ph.D., to chief manufacturing officer and Sterling Chung to chief regulatory and quality officer. Release
> Jürgen Moll, Ph.D., is stepping down as chief scientific officer of Tessellate Bio, to be replaced by Katie Chapman, Ph.D., who previously served the company as head of discovery biology. Release
> With a phase 2 trial of its IL-1β-targeting antibody underway, Avalo Therapeutics is bringing Abzena vet Taylor Boyd on board as chief business officer. Release
> Breast cancer biotech Atossa Therapeutics has created a new senior vice president of R&D position and filled it with Janet Rea. Release