
After China Trodelvy OK, Everest Medicines CEO resigns and the hunt is on for his replacement
Shanghai-based Everest Medicines CEO has hit the company’s exit door.
Kerry Blanchard has resigned as the CEO and as a member of the board of directors, effective immediately, Everest announced Friday. After spending nearly 17 years at Eli Lilly where he rose to the rank of VP, Blanchard spent three years as a top executive for other pharma companies in China, including a year-long stint at Innovent Biologics.
In 2020, Everest brought Blanchard on as the CEO, and shortly after he led the company’s IPO, raising HK$3.495 billion ($440 million) to advance its pipeline of discovery drugs in oncology, autoimmune disorders, cardio-renal diseases and infectious diseases.
While Blanchard will no longer serve as the CEO, he will remain as an advisor to the company for six months. Meanwhile, the company is looking for his replacement.

“Following an extensive search in the past few months, we are delighted to have identified a finalist among a short list of CEO candidates, with a broad set of expertise across clinical development, regulatory affairs and commercialization,” said Wei Fu, Everest’s chairman, in a press statement.
“We expect to have the new CEO join Everest in the coming month,” he added.
In June 2022, Everest won approval for Trodelvy for adult patients with unresectable locally advanced or metastatic triple-negative breast cancer. This marked the company’s first approval in its home country.
Everest had originally obtained Trodelvy rights through a 2019 deal with Immunomedics, which saw the former shell out $65 million upfront and $60 million. The deal also came with up to $710 million in milestones headed Immunomedics’ way — which was acquired by Gilead in late 2020.
However, in August 2022, Everest sold Trodelvy’s China rights back to Gilead for a $280 million upfront payment with another $175 million in milestone payments.
According to a filing on the Hong Kong Exchange, Everest said “the broader macroeconomic and capital markets backdrop,” and “the business prospects, the investment necessary and risks associated with commercializing” as reasons for selling Trodelvy rights.
The company said the money from the deal would be used to lead to a stronger balance sheet. The proceeds would go towards building its drug pipeline, strengthening its drug discovery capabilities, and focusing on the development of Nefecon, a kidney disease drug.
Meanwhile, Gilead will also regain Trodelvy rights in Macau, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Mongolia.