No­var­tis los­es a head hon­cho, with US on­col­o­gy head Bill Hin­shaw ex­it­ing for new gig at Ax­cel­la

Big Phar­ma has lost yet an­oth­er top ex­ec­u­tive to the glossy ranks of small — but cash-rich — biotech, with Bill Hin­shaw, the for­mer head of US on­col­o­gy at No­var­tis, ex­it­ing the com­pa­ny to join Ax­cel­la Health.

Hin­shaw will head up Ax­cel­la, a Flag­ship Pi­o­neer­ing-backed biotech in Cam­bridge, MA, as CEO and pres­i­dent, tak­ing the reins just in time for the biotech to start form­ing a com­mer­cial­iza­tion plan for its pipeline. Hin­shaw tells me he felt ready to take a dive — a risk — to work on some­thing tru­ly trans­for­ma­tion­al, and the new gen­er­a­tion of small biotechs like Ax­cel­la have the flex­i­bil­i­ty to make big change.

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