Leadership

An interactive look at recent executive-level company changes and promotions in the biopharma, medical device and diagnostics industries.

UK special envoy on antimicrobial resistance Professor Dame Sally Davies, who is also the former chief medical officer for England, talks to In Vivo about the challenges of 2020, the importance of a strong working relationship between the public and private sectors, and reaching a turning point on AMR.

An interactive look at recent executive-level company changes and promotions in the biopharma, medical device and diagnostics industries.

At the end of December 2020, Kenneth Kaitin retired as director of the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development after 23 years in the role, and 35 years working with the CSDD. Kenneth Getz, previously professor and deputy director of the CSDD, succeeds Kaitin as director in 2021. 

Last year Bristol Myers Squibb teamed up with GRYT Health to create a virtual conference and information hub geared toward connecting patients and advocates with industry leaders, clinicians and other health experts. In 2021, the COVID Advocacy Exchange will create formal working groups to address ongoing needs identified by the Exchange’s growing number of users.

Becoming a first-time CEO of a biotech company in 2020 meant dealing with unexpected challenges without any instruction book to follow. Santhera Pharmaceuticals’ Dario Eklund not only had COVID-19 upheaval to manage, but also a late-stage trial failure, a virtual financing and a new plan for the company to sell to stakeholders.

As a freshman interested in neurobiology at Joseph Fourier University in Grenoble, Virginie Buggia-Prevot knocked on the lab door of an esteemed neurosurgeon and professor conducting research on deep brain stimulation. She was hooked; following a PhD in neurobiology and a post doc at the University of Chicago, Buggia-Prevot joined MD Anderson’s Neurodegeneration Consortium, managing strategic alliances and working on drug discovery. In November, she joined Valo as director of neurology discovery, an opportunity to bring new research in neurodegeneration to bear on patients’ lives.

A change in direction for the French firm means a new approach to R&D. Sanofi’s global head of development and chief medical officer Dietmar Berger talked to In Vivo about what was needed to get the company’s R&D machine back on track. 

An interactive look at recent executive-level company changes and promotions in the biopharma, medical device and diagnostics industries.

The emergence of multi-cancer blood tests for early detection is captivating investors and driving multi-billion-dollar acquisitions. Companies such as GRAIL, Thrive Earlier Detection and Guardant are predicting revolutionary change in the way cancer is diagnosed and treated. The biggest hurdle, however, may be coaxing health care systems and health insurers to join the revolution.

In Vivo discusses dimensions around pharma CEO pay in India and whether it should be part of cost management efforts amid the pandemic.

Five years on from the first US biosimilar approval, the country’s biosimilars market is starting to fulfil its potential, in part driven by a recent oncology “revolution” according to Sandoz’ Sheila Frame.