Welcome to this week's Chutes and Ladders, our roundup of hirings and retirings throughout the industry. Please send the good word--or the bad--from your shop to Eric Sagonowsky (email) or Amirah Al Idrus (email | Twitter), and we will feature it here at the end of each week.
Regulus CEO Xanthopoulos' abrupt exit alarms investors |
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In an abrupt announcement, Regulus Therapeutics ($RGLS) CEO Kleanthis Xanthopoulos announced his resignation this week "to pursue investment opportunities in the biotechnology industry" as the company awaits key trial data for its in-development hepatitis C treatment. Along with him, Chief Scientific Officer Neil Gibson left the company, leaving Chief Medical Officer Paul Grint to take the CEO reins. News of the personnel changes spooked investors and sent the company's shares down 15%. Some of the concern may have come from the end of Xanthopoulos' last tenure as CEO of Anadys Pharmaceuticals, which he founded. Within two weeks of stepping down from that company in 2006, Anadys said it would halt the development of its hep C treatment on safety concerns and shares plummeted. Regulus is additionally working on preclinical candidates for cancer, fibrosis and metabolic disease with partners GlaxoSmithKline ($GSK), Sanofi ($SNY), and AstraZeneca ($AZN). Story | Release
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