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Poseida promotes cell therapy president to CEO; After IPO, Neumora appoints R&D chief

Kristin Yarema
→ The CEO post is changing hands once again at Poseida, as Kristin Yarema gets promoted to the top spot on Jan. 1 and Mark Gergen will…

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Kristin Yarema

→ The CEO post is changing hands once again at Poseida, as Kristin Yarema gets promoted to the top spot on Jan. 1 and Mark Gergen will take on the role of executive chairman. At the conclusion of her seven years with Amgen (2013-20), Yarema was bumped up to VP & therapeutic area head for global product strategy & commercial innovation in hematology-oncology. She then spent more than two years at Atara Biotherapeutics as commercial chief before becoming president of cell therapy at Poseida in April. Gergen, the former CBO at the San Diego CAR-T biotech, succeeded Eric Ostertag as chief executive on Feb. 1, 2022.

Robert Lenz

→ One of the 16 biotech companies to jump on the Nasdaq in 2023 is Bob Nelsen’s “Really Big Neuroscience Company,” Neumora Therapeutics, which started trading the same day as RayzeBio in September. Neumora has also lined up Robert Lenz as R&D chief after appointing AbbVie vet Henry Gosebruch as president and CEO several months ago. Lenz just wrapped up an 11-year career at Amgen and had been serving as the pharma giant’s head of global development. Neumora has a trio of Phase III trials on tap for major depressive disorder, and there won’t be any data out of them until we’re well into 2024.

Tom Garner

→ After a 21-year career at Bristol Myers Squibb, Tom Garner is stepping away from Big Pharma to join Lexicon Therapeutics as chief commercial officer. Lexicon broke through in May with an FDA approval for its heart failure med Inpefa, and Garner has cardiovascular experience as VP and US brand lead for mavacamten, now marketed as Camzyos for obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Last year, Garner was elevated to SVP and head of Bristol Myers’ cardiovascular and established brands, a business unit that also has the blood thinner Eliquis in its portfolio, among other products.

Arvin Yang

→ Arvin Yang is the second Mersana Therapeutics alum in as many weeks to land at another biotech, taking the CMO job at antibody-drug conjugate developer Pheon Therapeutics. A string of setbacks involving patient deaths and a Phase III miss with the ovarian cancer drug upifitamab rilsodotin precipitated Yang’s departure, the retirement of Mersana CEO Anna Protopapas, and several other leadership moves. Last week, ex-Mersana clinical development and operations leader Ellie Im signed on at Centessa. Now led by ex-Vedere Bio chief Cyrus Mozayeni, Pheon hit the scene in September 2022 with $68 million from the likes of Forbion, Brandon Capital and Atlas Venture.

Richie Cunningham

→ Richie Cunningham has split the uprights with another CEO gig at Anebulo Pharmaceuticals, an acute cannabinoid intoxication biotech that went public during the 2021 IPO boom. Cunningham, a former NFL kicker who had his best season in 1997 as a rookie with the Dallas Cowboys, was CEO of Tyme Technologies from 2020-22. Tyme and the embattled Syros Pharmaceuticals merged last year in a $60 million deal.

→ Dutch biotech VarmX, which has been getting ready to launch a pivotal trial for a reversal agent for blood thinners, has promoted its CSO, Jeffrey Lawson, to the CEO spot, replacing Jan Öhrström. Öhrström will remain as chairman of the company’s board. Before VarmX, Lawson was president and CEO of Humacyte. The CEO change-up comes after the company raised a €30 million Series B2 round in May.

Neil McFarlane

→ Zevra Therapeutics has tapped UCB and Sanofi Genzyme alum Neil McFarlane as president and CEO, allowing interim chief Christal Mickle to concentrate on her duties as chief development officer. McFarlane ran the show at Parkinson’s biotech Adamas Pharmaceuticals until it was sold to Supernus for $400 million two years ago this week. Zevra bought rare disease player Acer Therapeutics in June and rebranded from KemPharm earlier this year.

→ Cincinnati-based Blue Water Biotech is going through a C-suite shakeup, bringing on Neil Campbell as president and CEO and Bruce Harmon as CFO. Campbell formerly served in a number of roles at IGEN International, Celera Genomics and Abbott Laboratories. Meanwhile, Harmon replaces Jon Garfield for the chief finance spot. Harmon has also served in this role at Marizyme and bioAffinity Technologies.

Shannon Sullivan

→ Shannon Sullivan has been named chief commercial officer at Milan-based Dompé farmaceutici, which also has offices in the Bay Area and scored the first FDA approval for neurotrophic keratitis with its eye drop Oxervate. Sullivan had numerous roles in 22 years at Amgen, and for the last year she’s been in charge of the Tavneos franchise as VP, general manager of vasculitis for the inflammation business unit. Amgen picked up Tavneos in its $4 billion acquisition of ChemoCentryx last summer.

Sonia Poli

→ Another company based in Italy, protein degradation player Sibylla Biotech, has recruited Sonia Poli as CSO. Poli is the ex-VP of translational science at AC Immune who rose to chief scientist during her 13 years with Addex Therapeutics. Sibylla raised €23 million for its Series A last fall.

→ Glycomine, a California biotech focused on sugar processing disorders, has installed Rose Marino as CMO. Marino had been VP, clinical development rare disease at Ipsen and was senior medical director for the fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva programs at Clementia. Glycomine’s lead drug, GLM101, is in Phase II for phosphomannomutase 2-congenital disorder of glycosylation (PMM2-CDG).

→ Medicenna Therapeutics has recruited Humphrey Gardner as CMO. Gardner has prior CMO experience from his time at Harbour BioMed and Silicon Therapeutics. Gardner’s résumé also has such roles as CMO in residence at Roivant, chief, medical oncology at Evelo Biosciences and SVP clinical development at Karyopharm Therapeutics.

Sakura Minami

→ Redwood City, CA-based Ashvattha Therapeutics has introduced two new leaders: Sakura Minami (VP of translational medicine and nonclinical development) is the former senior director, nonclinical development and translational sciences at Grifols subsidiary Alkahest. Meanwhile, Five Prime and Global Blood Therapeutics alum Sarah Thayer (head of clinical operations) previously held this title at lipid nanoparticle delivery startup ReCode Therapeutics.

Alexander Egeberg

→ Denmark’s Leo Pharma has welcomed Alexander Egeberg as its head of global medical affairs. A dermatology professor at the University of Copenhagen, Egeberg also had a two-year stint at Pfizer in medical affairs. In March, Leo Pharma decided to split its R&D unit into two different teams, with CSO Jacob Pontoppidan Thyssen handling research and early development, and Kreesten Meldgaard Madsen taking over as chief development officer.

→ According to an SEC filing, Alnylam director Marsha Fanucci resigned on Sept. 29, and the RNAi specialist won’t seek a 13th board member to replace her. Although one analyst said the FDA’s rejection of Onpattro for ATTR cardiomyopathy “isn’t hugely surprising,” Alnylam CEO Yvonne Greenstreet expressed her surprise about the decision in an investor call.

Alethia Young

→ Non-opioid pain management specialist Pacira BioSciences has added four board members: Ventus Therapeutics president and CEO Marcelo Bigal; Rapport Therapeutics chief Abraham Ceesay; ex-ViaCyte president and CEO Michael Yang; and Bicycle Therapeutics CFO Alethia Young. Pacira is still looking for a CEO to succeed the retiring Dave Stack.

→ Auvelity maker Axsome Therapeutics has elected former Lilly Oncology president Sue Mahony to the board of directors. Mahony has board seats at Zymeworks and Assembly Biosciences, and she was on Horizon’s board before Amgen finally completed its $28 billion buyout.

→ Adiso Therapeutics has reserved a seat on its board of directors for Robert Lisicki. Lisicki recently served as CEO and a board member of InCarda Therapeutics, and before that, he was chief commercial officer for Arena Pharmaceuticals.

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Angry Shouting Aside, Here’s What Biden Is Running On

Angry Shouting Aside, Here’s What Biden Is Running On

Last night, Joe Biden gave an extremely dark, threatening, angry State of the Union…

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March 8, 2024

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Angry Shouting Aside, Here's What Biden Is Running On

Last night, Joe Biden gave an extremely dark, threatening, angry State of the Union address - in which he insisted that the American economy is doing better than ever, blamed inflation on 'corporate greed,' and warned that Donald Trump poses an existential threat to the republic.

But in between the angry rhetoric, he also laid out his 2024 election platform - for which additional details will be released on March 11, when the White House sends its proposed budget to Congress.

To that end, Goldman Sachs' Alec Phillips and Tim Krupa have summarized the key points:

Taxes

While railing against billionaires (nothing new there), Biden repeated the claim that anyone making under $400,000 per year won't see an increase in their taxes.  He also proposed a 21% corporate minimum tax, up from 15% on book income outlined in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), as well as raising the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28% (which would promptly be passed along to consumers in the form of more inflation). Goldman notes that "Congress is unlikely to consider any of these proposals this year, they would only come into play in a second Biden term, if Democrats also won House and Senate majorities."

Biden also called on Congress to restore the pandemic-era child tax credit.

Immigration

Instead of simply passing a slew of border security Executive Orders like the Trump ones he shredded on day one, Biden repeated the lie that Congress 'needs to act' before he can (translation: send money to Ukraine or the US border will continue to be a sieve).

As immigration comes into even greater focus heading into the election, we continue to expect the Administration to tighten policy (e.g., immigration has surged 20pp the last 7 months to first place with 28% in Gallup’s “most important problem” survey). As such, we estimate the foreign-born contribution to monthly labor force growth will moderate from 110k/month in 2023 to around 70-90k/month in 2024. -GS

Ukraine

Biden, with House Speaker Mike Johnson doing his best impression of a bobble-head, urged Congress to pass additional assistance for Ukraine based entirely on the premise that Russia 'won't stop' there (and would what, trigger article 5 and WW3 no matter what?), despite the fact that Putin explicitly told Tucker Carlson he has no further ambitions, and in fact seeks a settlement.

As Goldman estimates, "While there is still a clear chance that such a deal could come together, for now there is no clear path forward for Ukraine aid in Congress."

China

Biden, forgetting about all the aggressive tariffs, suggested that Trump had been soft on China, and that he will stand up "against China's unfair economic practices" and "for peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait."

Healthcare

Lastly, Biden proposed to expand drug price negotiations to 50 additional drugs each year (an increase from 20 outlined in the IRA), which Goldman said would likely require bipartisan support "even if Democrats controlled Congress and the White House," as such policies would likely be ineligible for the budget "reconciliation" process which has been used in previous years to pass the IRA and other major fiscal party when Congressional margins are just too thin.

So there you have it. With no actual accomplishments to speak of, Biden can only attack Trump, lie, and make empty promises.

Tyler Durden Fri, 03/08/2024 - 18:00

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United Airlines adds new flights to faraway destinations

The airline said that it has been working hard to "find hidden gem destinations."

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9 hours ago

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March 8, 2024

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Since countries started opening up after the pandemic in 2021 and 2022, airlines have been seeing demand soar not just for major global cities and popular routes but also for farther-away destinations.

Numerous reports, including a recent TripAdvisor survey of trending destinations, showed that there has been a rise in U.S. traveler interest in Asian countries such as Japan, South Korea and Vietnam as well as growing tourism traction in off-the-beaten-path European countries such as Slovenia, Estonia and Montenegro.

Related: 'No more flying for you': Travel agency sounds alarm over risk of 'carbon passports'

As a result, airlines have been looking at their networks to include more faraway destinations as well as smaller cities that are growing increasingly popular with tourists and may not be served by their competitors.

The Philippines has been popular among tourists in recent years.

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United brings back more routes, says it is committed to 'finding hidden gems'

This week, United Airlines  (UAL)  announced that it will be launching a new route from Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) to Morocco's Marrakesh. While it is only the country's fourth-largest city, Marrakesh is a particularly popular place for tourists to seek out the sights and experiences that many associate with the country — colorful souks, gardens with ornate architecture and mosques from the Moorish period.

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"We have consistently been ahead of the curve in finding hidden gem destinations for our customers to explore and remain committed to providing the most unique slate of travel options for their adventures abroad," United's SVP of Global Network Planning Patrick Quayle, said in a press statement.

The new route will launch on Oct. 24 and take place three times a week on a Boeing 767-300ER  (BA)  plane that is equipped with 46 Polaris business class and 22 Premium Plus seats. The plane choice was a way to reach a luxury customer customer looking to start their holiday in Marrakesh in the plane.

Along with the new Morocco route, United is also launching a flight between Houston (IAH) and Colombia's Medellín on Oct. 27 as well as a route between Tokyo and Cebu in the Philippines on July 31 — the latter is known as a "fifth freedom" flight in which the airline flies to the larger hub from the mainland U.S. and then goes on to smaller Asian city popular with tourists after some travelers get off (and others get on) in Tokyo.

United's network expansion includes new 'fifth freedom' flight

In the fall of 2023, United became the first U.S. airline to fly to the Philippines with a new Manila-San Francisco flight. It has expanded its service to Asia from different U.S. cities earlier last year. Cebu has been on its radar amid growing tourist interest in the region known for marine parks, rainforests and Spanish-style architecture.

With the summer coming up, United also announced that it plans to run its current flights to Hong Kong, Seoul, and Portugal's Porto more frequently at different points of the week and reach four weekly flights between Los Angeles and Shanghai by August 29.

"This is your normal, exciting network planning team back in action," Quayle told travel website The Points Guy of the airline's plans for the new routes.

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Walmart launches clever answer to Target’s new membership program

The retail superstore is adding a new feature to its Walmart+ plan — and customers will be happy.

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March 8, 2024

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It's just been a few days since Target  (TGT)  launched its new Target Circle 360 paid membership plan. 

The plan offers free and fast shipping on many products to customers, initially for $49 a year and then $99 after the initial promotional signup period. It promises to be a success, since many Target customers are loyal to the brand and will go out of their way to shop at one instead of at its two larger peers, Walmart and Amazon.

Related: Walmart makes a major price cut that will delight customers

And stop us if this sounds familiar: Target will rely on its more than 2,000 stores to act as fulfillment hubs. 

This model is a proven winner; Walmart also uses its more than 4,600 stores as fulfillment and shipping locations to get orders to customers as soon as possible.

Sometimes, this means shipping goods from the nearest warehouse. But if a desired product is in-store and closer to a customer, it reduces miles on the road and delivery time. It's a kind of logistical magic that makes any efficiency lover's (or retail nerd's) heart go pitter patter. 

Walmart rolls out answer to Target's new membership tier

Walmart has certainly had more time than Target to develop and work out the kinks in Walmart+. It first launched the paid membership in 2020 during the height of the pandemic, when many shoppers sheltered at home but still required many staples they might ordinarily pick up at a Walmart, like cleaning supplies, personal-care products, pantry goods and, of course, toilet paper. 

It also undercut Amazon  (AMZN)  Prime, which costs customers $139 a year for free and fast shipping (plus several other benefits including access to its streaming service, Amazon Prime Video). 

Walmart+ costs $98 a year, which also gets you free and speedy delivery, plus access to a Paramount+ streaming subscription, fuel savings, and more. 

An employee at a Merida, Mexico, Walmart. (Photo by Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Jeff Greenberg/Getty Images

If that's not enough to tempt you, however, Walmart+ just added a new benefit to its membership program, ostensibly to compete directly with something Target now has: ultrafast delivery. 

Target Circle 360 particularly attracts customers with free same-day delivery for select orders over $35 and as little as one-hour delivery on select items. Target executes this through its Shipt subsidiary.

We've seen this lightning-fast delivery speed only in snippets from Amazon, the king of delivery efficiency. Who better to take on Target, though, than Walmart, which is using a similar store-as-fulfillment-center model? 

"Walmart is stepping up to save our customers even more time with our latest delivery offering: Express On-Demand Early Morning Delivery," Walmart said in a statement, just a day after Target Circle 360 launched. "Starting at 6 a.m., earlier than ever before, customers can enjoy the convenience of On-Demand delivery."

Walmart  (WMT)  clearly sees consumers' desire for near-instant delivery, which obviously saves time and trips to the store. Rather than waiting a day for your order to show up, it might be on your doorstep when you wake up. 

Consumers also tend to spend more money when they shop online, and they remain stickier as paying annual members. So, to a growing number of retail giants, almost instant gratification like this seems like something worth striving for.

Related: Veteran fund manager picks favorite stocks for 2024

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