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 Donavyn Coffey, Marissa Russo and Will Maddox, and it will be featured here at the end of each week.
Longtime Takeda R&D chief to depart next June
Takeda
Takeda President of Research and Development Andy Plump, M.D., Ph.D., is leaving the company in June after twelve years in the position. Plump joined the Japanese Big Pharma in 2015 from Sanofi, where he was chief medical and scientific officer. The executive will continue to lead R&D for Takeda until a successor is named and will help with the transition through the middle of next year.
The announcement comes as Takeda looks to grow revenue at a time when its exclusivity on ADHD drug Vyvanse has dragged on sales. Last month, the FDA approved narcolepsy treatment Orzeyful and blood cancer drug Mimrylo. In the last five years, the company has won approval for the antiviral Livtencity, blood clotting disorder drug Adzynma and eosinophilic esophagitis therapy Eohilia.
A trained internal medicine physician with a fellowship in medical genetics, Plump was also worldwide cardiovascular research head at Merck & Co., where he oversaw cardiovascular research, preclinical development and translational sciences. Story
Sofinnova lands Gilead alum as executive partner
Sofinnova Investments
Biopharmaceutical investment firm Sofinnova announced the addition of Merdad Parsey, M.D., Ph.D., to the investment team as an executive partner. Parsey hails from his executive vice president and chief medical officer role at Gilead. Prior to Gilead, he held several tenure positions at other Big Pharmas such as Merck & Co., Regeneron and Genentech.
“I have had the opportunity to work across early research and clinical development through regulatory approval and commercialization, with the goal of bringing innovative, important new medicines to patients,” Parsey said in the release. “I look forward to being part of the Sofinnova team to continue those efforts.”
Parsey joins an already stacked Sofinnova partners team that includes Sanofi and Biogen alum Maha Radhakrishnan, M.D., Roche, Amgen and Merck leader Jonathan Leff, M.D., and Merck and GSK alum Chris Carpenter, M.D., Ph.D., among others. Since its founding, Sofinnova has built companies in the U.S. and Europe with approximately $4.8 billion in assets under management and committed capital, as of the end of June. Release
Pyxis locks in interim CEO in preparation for phase 1 results
Pyxis Oncology
Ahead of a Phase 1 readout for its first-in-class antibody drug conjugate (ADC), Pyxis Oncology has appointed its interim CEO, Thomas Civik, to a permanent appointment as CEO and chairman of the board.
Civik stepped up as interim CEO in February of 2026 and has been a member of Pyxis’ board of directors since 2021. Prior to Pyxis, Civik was chairman of ImCheck Therapeutics which sold to Ispen and Repare Therapeutics which was in turn sold to Xoma. He was also president and CEO of Five Prime Therapeutics until it was acquired by Amgen.
With Civik at the helm, Pyxis co-founder and founding chairman, John Flavin, will transition to serve as lead independent director of the board. Pyxis expects to report data from its MICVO Phase 1 study in second-line and beyond recurrent/metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma this fall. Release
> Vaxcyte plucks former 17-year Pfizer alum Luis Jodar, Ph.D., to be its new chief medical officer as the California-based vaccine company expects topline data from the phase 3 VAX-31 OPUS-1 trial by the end of October. Vaxcyte also appointed former Teva chief legal officer David McAvoy as its new chief legal officer. Release
> ADC biotech Callio Therapeutics has named Zachary Hornby as CEO. He was previously CEO, president and a director at Boundless Bio. Callio co-founder Piers Ingram, Ph.D., and former Chief Scientific Officer Jerome Boyd-Kirkup, Ph.D., will both transition to senior advisor roles. Release
> Sabrina Kuttruff-Coqui, Ph.D., will be the new CEO of immunology-focused Orkine Bio. She will be joined by new Chief Scientific and Development Officer Joachim Koch, Ph.D., and Andreas Muehler, M.D., who will serve as the company’s new chief medical officer. Release
> Eikon Therapeutics appointed Bristol Myers Squibb and Gilead alum, Ching-Pin Chang, M.D., Ph.D., as its executive vice president and chief scientific officer. Release
> Radiopharmaceutical biotech Actithera has named Steven Kelly as its new CEO and a member of its board. He will guide the company’s fibroblast activation protein-targeted RLT into clinical development. Founder Andreas Goutopoulos will continue as president and head of research and development. Release
> Huntington’s disease and ALS specialist Prilenia Therapeutics has named Frederick Munschauer III, M.D., as chief medical officer. He most recently served in the same role at Emalex Biosciences. Release
> AI therapeutics company insitro has named Hideo Makimura as its new chief medical officer. He will lead the company’s AI-derived metabolic disease and neuroscience pipeline toward the clinic. Most recently, he held the same role at Affinia Therapeutics. Release
> Editas Medicine appointed Dan Ory, M.D., as new chief medical officer to help advance its lead in vivo CRISPR gene editing candidate, EDIT-401, to the clinic for the treatment of hyperlipidemia. Release
> Cytospire Therapeutics has called up Sumeet Ambarkhane, M.D., to be its new chief medical officer as the London-based T cell engager developer advances its lead asset, CYT X300, to clinical development as a potential treatment for EGFR-positive solid tumors. Release
> Gilead and OrsoBio alum Rob Myers, M.D., joins Mirum Pharmaceuticals as new chief medical officer to help lead global medical and clinical development. Release
> Med tech company Pulmera has named Stryker veteran Jared Slibeck as its new chief commercial officer to lead commercial adoption of its CBeam 3D imaging platform. Release
> PMV Pharmaceuticals, a precision oncology firm, tapped Philip Herman as its new chief commercial officer. Herman will orchestrate PMV’s commercial strategy and launch of rezatapopt, PMV Pharma’s p53 reactivator, which is slated for a New Drug Application in early 2027. Release
> Tonix Pharmaceuticals promoted Thomas Englese to serve as its first chief commercial officer. Englese has served as the company’s executive vice president of commercial operations since 2024. Release