Editor's note: The Fierce team will be out of office next Friday for the Thanksgiving holiday. The next edition of Chutes & Ladders will publish Dec. 5.
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.
Gilead abruptly parts ways with general counsel
Gilead Sciences
Gilead Sciences' general counsel and EVP of corporate affairs Deborah Telman will hang up the gloves by Dec. 5, the company announced in a brief filing Nov. 15. Gilead didn’t offer any explanation for Telman’s departure, plainly stating that the executive’s employment will “terminate later in the month.”
Telman has been responsible for Gilead’s government affairs and policy, public affairs, legal and compliance functions since 2022, when she joined the company to succeed 17-year employee Brett Pletcher. Her exit comes after an April settlement that wrapped up a long-running HIV drug kickbacks probe and more recent settlement agreements with generic drug makers looking to make copies of flagship HIV med Biktarvy. Before her tenure at Gilead, Telman built out legal, ethics and safety organizations at Organon as its general counsel following the company’s spinout from Merck. Securities and Exchange Commission filing (PDF)
Treg biotech turns new leadership leaf
Sonoma Biotherapeutics
Jeffrey Bluestone, Ph.D., is hanging it up as CEO of Sonoma Biotherapeutics, the company he co-founded to turn regulatory T cells (Tregs) into new autoimmune medicines. Bluestone will become an advisor to the biotech while Stephen Dilly, Ph.D., steps in as the new chief exec. Dilly most recently served as CEO and board chair of Codexis. His career spans more than 40 years, including stints as the leader of Sierra Oncology (acquired by GSK) and Aimmune Therapeutics (acquired by Nestlé Health Science). Bluestone founded SonomaBio in 2019 with a suite of other Treg pioneers, including Fred Ramsdell, Ph.D., who was a recipient of this year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on the immune sentinels. SonomaBio recently presented phase 1 data for its lead rheumatoid arthritis candidate. Release
Sensei says sayonara to C-suite
Sensei Biotherapeutics
After already halving its workforce twice since 2022, Sensei Biotherapeutics is forging ahead with a new 65% layoff round. Alongside the workforce reduction, Sensei’s board has terminated CEO John Celebi, Chief Scientific Officer Edward van der Horst, Ph.D., and Chief Business Officer Stephanie Krebs. The three execs have entered into six-month consulting agreements that pay $425 per hour for up to 20 hours each week. Sensei's new president and principal executive officer is Christopher Gerry, who has served as general counsel since 2022. Three board members, including Celebi, have resigned from the board, and Sensei has shrunk its director count from six to three. Story
> Factor Bioscience’s CEO and co-founder Matt Angel will swoop in to bless Tempest Therapeutics as its CEO, replacing current chief Stephen Brady, if a proposed asset purchase agreement between the two companies goes through. Story
> Striving to become an antibody-drug conjugate powerhouse, Adcytherix’s leadership team got a boost with the appointment of former European Medicines Agency oncology advisory group chair Jan Schellens, M.D., Ph.D., as chief medical officer and Jaime Arango as chief financial officer. Release
> Sanofi-acquired Blueprint Medicines’ former chief commercial officer Philina Lee, Ph.D.'s next stop is at AdvanCell, where she will lead the Australian radiopharmaceutical company’s U.S. expansion as CEO while founder and longtime CEO Andrew Adamovich stays on as Australia managing director. Release
> OncoNano zeroed in on a new chief operating officer in Brent Sorrells, who brings more than two decades of operational and commercial experience to the role. Release
> Physician and executive Vinicius Gomes de Lima, M.D., split from downsizing CSL Vifor to take the chief medical officer reins at Azurity Pharmaceuticals. LinkedIn
> Nxera Pharma, hoping to stir up a path to profitability, is shrinking its leadership team from 10 execs to seven while also bringing in a new chief scientific officer and president of U.K. in Patrik Foerch, Ph.D. Release
> Emergency medicine specialist Serb Pharmaceuticals is bringing biopharma vet Vignesh Rajah on board as chief medical officer. Release
> Oncology outfit Mosaic Therapeutics is replacing retiring Chief Scientific Officer Barry Davies, Ph.D., with Samsara BioCapital Venture Partner Stephen Shuttleworth, Ph.D. Release (PDF)
> Scott Platshon has been named acting chief investment officer of Zymeworks, a role he’ll serve part-time while still working as a partner at EcoR1 Capital. Release
> FDA vet Christopher Breder, M.D., Ph.D., will now guide MediciNova’s interactions with the top regulator as clinical and regulatory advisor. Release
> Neurona Therapeutics is gearing up for a pivotal phase 3 trial of lead epilepsy candidate NRTX-1001 by appointing former Neurocrine VP Eduardo Dunayevich, M.D., as chief medical officer. Release
> Rheumatologist Celia Lin, M.D., is joining Nuvig Therapeutics as chief medical officer to guide the company’s lead inflammation asset through phase 2 trials. Release