Stealthy Third Rock startup poaches oncology exec from Novartis — just days after his boss jumped ship

Peter Hammerman

May 3, 2021 10:49 AM EDTUpdated 11:25 AM

Stealthy Third Rock startup poaches oncology exec from Novartis — just days after his boss jumped ship

Amber Tong

Senior Editor

Novartis’ oncology research unit has lost another top exec to biotech’s lure.

Peter Hammerman, the global head of oncology translational research at NIBR, revealed his jump just days after word got out that his former boss Jeff Engelman has launched a cancer R&D biotech with Loxo founder Josh Bilenker.

His new title is CSO of MOMA Therapeutics, the stealthy Third Rock startup that has been beefing up its C-suite under CEO and Millennium vet Asit Parikh.

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Biotech investors and CEOs see two paths to growth, but are they equally viable?

Noël Brown

Head of US Biotechnology Investment Banking, RBC Capital Markets

The dynamic in the biotech market has been highly volatile in the last few years, from the high peaks immediately after the COVID vaccine in 2021, to the lowest downturns of the last 20 years in 2022. This uncertainty makes calling the exact timing of the market’s turn something of a fool’s errand, according to Dr. Chen Yu, Founder and Managing Partner of TCG Crossover (TCG X). He speaks with RBC’s Noël Brown, Head of US Biotechnology Investment Banking, about the market’s road ahead and two possible paths for growth.

Casey McPherson shows his daughters Rose (left) and Weston around Everlum Bio, a lab that he co-founded to spark a treatment for Rose and others with ultra-rare conditions. (Ilana Panich-Linsman)

October 4, 2022 06:00 AM EDTUpdated 11:21 AM

People

Pharma

In Focus

Father starts lab after intellectual property issues stymie rare disease drug development

Jared Whitlock

Features Editor

Under bright lab lights, Casey McPherson holds his 6-year-old daughter, Rose. His free hand directs Rose’s gaze toward a computer screen with potential clues in treating her one-of-a kind genetic condition.

Gray specks on the screen show her cells that scientists reprogrammed with the goal of zeroing in on a custom medicine. McPherson co-founded the lab, Everlum Bio, to spark a treatment for Rose — and others like her. A regarded singer-songwriter, McPherson never imagined going into drug development.

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Fireside chat between Hal Barron and John Carroll, UKBIO19

October 5, 2022 07:38 AM EDT

Bioregnum

It’s time we talked about biopharma — live in London next week

John Carroll

Editor & Founder

Zoom can only go so far. And I think at this stage, we’ve all tested the limits of staying in touch — virtually. So I’m particularly happy now that we’ve revved up the travel machine to point myself to London for the first time in several years.

Whatever events we have lined up, we’ve always built in plenty of opportunities for all of us to get together and talk. For London, live, I plan to be right out front, meeting with and chatting with the small crowd of biopharma people we are hosting on October 12 at Silicon Valley Bank’s London headquarters. And there’s a lengthy mixer at the end I’m most looking forward to, with several networking openings between sessions.

ENDPOINTS CAREERS

Senior Quality Assurance Compliance Specialist

Lonza

Houston, TX, USA

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Carolyn Bertozzi (Illustration: Assistant editor Kathy Wong for Endpoints News)

October 5, 2022 07:43 AM EDTUpdated 11:03 AM

People

Carolyn Bertozzi, repeat biotech founder and launcher of a field, shares in chemistry Nobel win

Kyle LaHucik

Associate Editor

Carolyn Bertozzi, predicted by some to become a Nobel laureate, clinched one of the world’s top awards in the wee hours of Wednesday, winning the Nobel Prize in Chemistry alongside a repeat winner and a Copenhagen researcher.

The Stanford professor, Morten Meldal of University of Copenhagen and 2001-awardee K. Barry Sharpless of Scripps shared the prize equally. The Nobel is sometimes split in quarters and/or halves.

October 4, 2022 10:00 AM EDTUpdated 10 hours ago

Manufacturing

Takeda to pull key hypoparathyroidism drug from the market after years of manufacturing woes

Zachary Brennan

Senior Editor

Takeda on Tuesday morning made an announcement that almost 3,000 people with the rare disease known as hypoparathyroidism were fearing.

Due to unresolved supply issues and manufacturing woes, Takeda said it will cut its losses and discontinue its hypoparathyroidism drug, known as Natpara (parathyroid hormone), halting all manufacturing of the drug by the end of 2024, but the entire inventory will be available until depleted or expired, a company spokesperson said via email.

Pfizer and BioNTech's original Marvel comic book links evolving Covid vaccine science to Avengers' evolving villain-fighting tools.(Source: Pfizer LinkedIn post)

October 5, 2022 02:23 PM EDT

Pharma

Marketing

Pfizer, BioNTech partner with Marvel for Avengers and Covid-fighting comic book

Beth Snyder Bulik

Senior Editor

Pfizer and BioNTech are collaborating with Marvel to celebrate “everyday” people getting Covid-19 vaccines in a custom comic book.

In the “Everyday Heroes” digital comic book, an evolving Ultron, one of the Avengers’ leading villains, is defeated by Captain America, Ironman and others. The plotline and history of Ultron is explained by a grandfather who is waiting with his family at a clinic for Covid-19 vaccinations.

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October 5, 2022 11:28 AM EDTUpdated 06:04 PM

FDA+

FDA+ roundup: Adcomm date set for Cytokinetics heart drug; New generic drug guidance to reduce facility delays

Zachary Brennan

Senior Editor

The FDA has set Dec. 13 as the day that its Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs Advisory Committee will review Cytokinetics’ potential heart drug, setting up a key vote ahead of a Feb. 28, 2023 PDUFA date.

The drug, known as omecamtiv mecarbil, read out its first Phase III in November 2020, hitting the primary endpoint of reducing the odds of hospitalization or other urgent care for heart failure by 8%. But it also missed a key secondary endpoint analysts had pegged as the key to breaking into the market, failing to significantly differ in reducing cardiovascular death from placebo.

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ENDPOINTS CAREERS

Head of Quality Systems

Lonza

Lexington, MA, USA

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Robert Arch, OncoSec Medical CEO

October 5, 2022 07:21 AM EDT

People

R&D

Penny stock, Merck partner lays off 45% of staff to reach PhII readout by early 2023

Max Gelman

Senior Editor

Another biotech is feeling the chill of the bear market, laying off staff in an effort to preserve cash.

Cancer immunotherapy startup OncoSec Medical announced Tuesday evening it would lay off about 45% of its workforce, or 18 employees, it estimated in an SEC filing. OncoSec made the move to better position the company to complete a Phase II trial for its sole program in melanoma, CEO Robert Arch said in a statement.

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New Chroma Medicine board member Jeff Marrazzo

October 4, 2022 07:00 AM EDTUpdated 07:25 AM

People

Bioregnum

Jeff Marrazzo has found a buzzy new biotech cause to champion. And once again, he's all in

Jeff Marrazzo is one of those biotech execs who has always been focused on the next big goal. He has a track record for meeting objectives, relentlessly staying on message, and breaking new ground.

The fact that he stayed around for a couple of years after Roche’s $4.3 billion Spark buyout, making sure the organization he founded weathered Covid-19, is one example. And that came after he carefully guided the company to the first-ever US approval of a gene therapy — no easy task.

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