Sector News

Categories

Borderless Insights

Image
Ditch Your CV Biases: Finding Your Next Leader Demands a Storyteller’s Curiosity
Image
Career 2.0: Mid-Career Transition for the Over-50 Executive
Image
How can we really achieve gender equity in the C-Suite?

Small molecule chief named head of gRED in rejig at the top of Genentech

December 15, 2014
Life sciences
There has been a change at the top of gRED. Having shepherded Genentech’s R&D operations through the takeover by Roche, Richard Scheller will retire at the end of 2014. Roche has lined up Michael Varney, Genentech’s head of small molecule drug discovery, to replace Scheller.
 
The rejig marks the first change at the top of Genentech Research and Early Development (gRED) since the early days of the Roche takeover, when the Swiss pharma fenced off the biotech’s early-stage R&D from its own operations. Scheller–who was Genentech’s chief scientific officer prior to the acquisition–was put in charge of the standalone R&D unit within one month of Roche closing the deal.
 
Under Scheller, gRED has propped up its parent company by delivering a string of cancer drugs–offset by the occasional failure such as MetMab–and developed promising candidates for diseases including age-related macular degeneration. Genentech even made a rare big-ticket deal, paying $725 million in cash–and agreeing to up to $1 billion in milestones–to takeover Seragon Pharmaceuticals and its breast cancer program.
 
The challenge of realizing the promise of Seragon’s science will now fall on Varney, who will take over as head of gRED in January. Varney is stepping up from his current position as head of small molecule drug discovery, a role he took in 2005. Back then, Genentech was just setting up its small molecule R&D operation. Now, it has named a man who has spent his career working on small molecules–first at Viracept developer Agouron Pharmaceuticals–as the head of its early-stage R&D operation.
 
By Nick Paul Taylor
 

comments closed

Related News

December 3, 2023

FDA names chief scientist Bumpus as Woodcock’s successor

Life sciences

The Food and Drug Administration’s top scientist Namandjé Bumpus will assume the role of principal deputy commissioner when longtime agency leader Janet Woodcock retires from that role in early 2024, according to an announcement Thursday.

Read more
December 3, 2023

AbbVie to buy cancer drug maker ImmunoGen for $10.1 Billion

Life sciences

US biopharma AbbVie has agreed to acquire ImmunoGen in a deal which values the company at about $10.1 billion and gives AbbVie access to flagship cancer therapy Elahere (mirvetuximab soravtansine-gynx), a first-in-class antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) approved for platinum-resistant ovarian cancer (PROC), as well as a pipeline of promising next-generation ADCs.

Read more
December 3, 2023

EuroAPI appoints new Executive Committee members

Life sciences

EUROAPI today announced the appointment of David Seignolle as Chief Operating Officer, succeeding Eric Berger, and Marion Santin as Chief Legal, Compliance, and IP Officer, both joining the company’s Executive Committee. In his new role, David Seignolle will lead the transformation of the Industrial Operations organization.

Read more
More news

How can we help you?

We're easy to reach