Mer­ck vet Thomas Can­nell takes the reins at Sesen Bio; Post-tur­bu­lence, Rock­well Med­ical ap­points new CEO

→ It’s been a year of change for Sesen Bio — or, un­til three months ago, Eleven Bio — and they are now adding a new CEO to that list. Mer­ck vet Thomas Can­nell is step­ping in to steer the com­pa­ny through a Phase III tri­al they hope will take their blad­der can­cer treat­ment, Vicini­um (VB4-845), to reg­u­la­to­ry sub­mis­sion in 2019. Can­nell jumps from a stint as COO and pres­i­dent of glob­al com­mer­cial prod­ucts at Orex­i­gen, the bank­rupt di­et pill mak­er that just sold to Nal­pro­pi­on. He re­places Stephen Hurly, the for­mer CEO of Viven­tia Biotech who took the reins when Sesen ac­quired Viven­tia and switched its fo­cus from oph­thal­mol­o­gy to on­col­o­gy. Mark­ing the be­gin­ning of the new era, two board di­rec­tors — Third Rock part­ner Ab­bie Cel­niker and eye dis­ease ex­pert Paul Chaney — are al­so leav­ing their role.

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