Foresite recruits Principia vet Martin Babler — and his old team — to occupy the C-suite of a startup
Almost a year to the day after Sanofi closed on its $3.7 billion Principia buyout, handing CEO Martin Babler $81 million for his chunk of equity, the biotech exec is ending his sabbatical and getting back to the helm of a startup. And he’s bringing the old Principia team along with him for the R&D scrimmage ahead.
Babler is taking over the top post at Esker Therapeutics from June Lee, who helped found the upstart, which Foresite hatched out of its labs and endowed with a $70 million launch round. The immunology specialist broke out of stealth mode back in May with a tiny staff and a Phase I plan for a TYK2 drug — initially for psoriasis — part of its plan to address genetically defined patient groups in a field dominated by blockbusters and blockbuster wannabes.
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