Welcome to this week’s Chutes & Ladders, our roundup of significant leadership hirings, firings and retirings across the industry. Please send the good word—or the bad—from your shop to Darren Incorvaia or Zoey Becker and it will be featured here at the end of each week.
Helus shuffles out CEO after two months, adds experience to scientific advisory board
Helus Pharma
(Helus Pharma)
Two months after bringing in Michael Cola to man the helm at Helus Pharma as CEO, the company’s board has requested his departure, effective immediately. As such, co-founder and executive chairman Eric So will again take on the role as interim CEO as the search for a permanent successor begins. Cola, who previously served as president of Takeda-acquired Shire’s specialty pharmaceutical business building up massive brands like ADHD med Vyvanse, was originally tapped to help Helus advance its pipeline of next-gen mental health therapies. Now, the seasoned biopharma exec So is back in the CEO seat, where he is “committed to ensuring continuity during this transition and maintaining our focus on creating long-term value for both patients and shareholders,” he said.
Meanwhile, the company has also now appointed two prominent industry leaders to its scientific advisory board in Robert Langer and Stephen Brannan, M.D. Langer is a highly decorated drug delivery expert who had a hand in founding over 40 biotech companies, including Moderna. Brannan, for his part, previously held executive leadership roles at Takeda and most recently Karuna Pharmaceuticals, where he served as chief medical officer. CEO transition release; Scientific advisory board release
Pfizer strategy chief exits two years in
Pfizer
Pfizer’s chief strategy and innovation officer, Andrew Baum, M.D., is stepping down two years after taking on the role. He will transition to a senior strategy advisor position to CEO Albert Bourla, Ph.D., before leaving the company by year’s end.
Before joining Pfizer, Baum spent many years at Citi as head of global healthcare and managing director for equity research, where he covered major New York–based pharmaceutical companies prior to moving into the C-suite. During his tenure, Pfizer won a $10 billion bidding war for obesity drugmaker Metsera. However, uncertainty surrounding its COVID-19 products and vaccine franchise contributed to a $1 billion revenue decline, bringing total revenue to $62.6 billion in 2025. Story
Paratus appoints CEO to advance lead candidate to clinic
Paratus Sciences
Alicia Secor has been named CEO and president of Paratus Sciences, which focuses on cardiometabolic, immune, and inflammatory diseases. She brings more than 30 years of biotech leadership experience and most recently served as president and CEO of privately held Atalanta Therapeutics. She previously led Juniper Pharmaceuticals as president and CEO until its acquisition by Catalent.
Leveraging its AI-powered drug discovery engine, Paratus is advancing its lead candidate, PS-1001, a pan-inflammasome inhibitor designed to treat diseases driven by excessive inflammasome activation. Secor said she is focused on moving the asset into human studies. “Paratus has all the elements of a company with the potential to build something important: differentiated science, a strong platform, and the opportunity to address diseases with serious unmet need,” she said. Release
> Amgen is making several organizational changes to fill the shoes left by retiring chief technology officer David Reese, M.D., who is departing after a lengthy career as the company promotes Sean Bruich to the chief technology officer role and James Bradner, M.D., to the EVP, R&D, artificial intelligence and data position, among other changes. Release
> After more than a decade of extensive leadership involvement throughout the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Keith Flaherty, M.D., has been inaugurated as the organization’s 2026-2027 president. Release
> Andreas Grauer, M.D., is hopping on board at Sagimet Biosciences to take on the chief medical officer role left by now-retired Eduardo Bruno Martins, M.D. Release
> Neurogene is strengthening its commercial leadership ahead of a potential gene therapy launch with the appointment of Christy Shafer as chief commercial officer. Story
> Ardelyx’s long-time chief legal officer Elizabeth Grammer is handing over the reins to Felecia Ettenberg, who comes from a 25-year career at Bristol Myers Squibb. Release
> Virginia-based AI drug developer Zephyr AI tapped a new chief scientific officer in precision oncology leader Lisa Eli, Ph.D. Release
> Chas Bountra, Ph.D., the former pro-vice-chancellor for innovation at the University of Oxford, is pivoting back to his biopharma roots as chief scientific officer at BPGbio. Release
> Modulari-T Biosciences’ co-founder and CEO David Cotnoir-White, Ph.D., is transitioning to the chief scientific officer position, while Tanya Borsuk, M.D., is bringing her two decades of business development expertise to the company’s CEO role. Release
> National Institutes of Health’s Clinical Center named Johnathon Green, M.D., as CEO. He will officially begin his tenure on May 17. Release
> After joining the board in 2025, Ian Clark has been appointed chairperson of BioMarin Pharmaceutical. He succeeds Richard Meier, who is retiring after two decades on the board. Release
> Edward R. Conner, M.D., has been named chief medical officer of autoimmune biotech Jade Biosciences. He joins from Ardelyx, where he held the same role. Release
> MASH-focused Inventiva has named Axel-Sven Malkomes as its chief financial officer, Susan Coles as chief legal officer and Pamela Herbster as chief people officer. Release
> Pedro Beltran, Ph.D., has been appointed president and CEO of BridgeBio Oncology Therapeutics. He is joined by Idan Elmelech as chief operating officer and Neil Kumar, Ph.D., as executive chairman. Release
> Late-stage ocular disease biopharma Theialife has named Thomas Ruggia as president and CEO as it prepares for a phase 3 trial of its lead candidate for patients with myopia. Release
> Swiss specialty pharma company Santera Pharmaceuticals has appointed Orlando Oliveria as CEO, effective July 15. He succeeds Dario Eklund, who led the company for more than six years. Release
