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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, Zoey Becker, or Will Maddox and it will be featured here at the end of each week. BioNTech brings in Sobi CEO After a six-month wait, BioNTech has finally filled its vacant CEO spot with Guido Oelkers , Ph.D. Oelkers hails from his tenure as CEO of Swedish pharma Sobi, where he oversaw the licensing of the respiratory syncytial virus therapy Synagis from AstraZeneca, the $915 million acquisition of Dova Pharmaceuticals for the thrombocytopenia medicine Doptelet and the launch of another bleeding disorder drug, Altuviiio, in partnership with Sanofi. “I am deeply honored to be leading BioNTech and prioritizing its evolution into a global biopharmaceutical company with multiple approved products by 2030, while continuing to advance its innovative pre-clinical and clinical portfolio in line with the company’s strategy,” Oelkers said in a press release. The German company’s CEO role had been on hold following the departure of former CEO Uğur Şahin , M.D., and his co-founder, CMO and wife Özlem Türeci , M.D. The pair announced in March that they would be launching a new company focused on “next-generation mRNA innovations.” Story Helus hires Halstead as CEO After helping guide Intra-Cellular Therapies toward its $14.6 billion acquisition by Johnson & Johnson, Michael Halstead took time to survey the biotech landscape for his next opportunity. His search ultimately landed him at the psychedelic biotech Helus Pharma, formerly known as Cybin, where he has taken over as CEO from interim officeholder Eric So , the company’s co-founder and executive chairman. “I could not be more excited to join Helus at this stage in the company's lifespan,” Halstead told Fierce. “Helus really is underappreciated. It’s not a single program. It's not a single drug candidate. We have a platform here.” The star of Helus’ pipeline is HLP003, a modified form of the psilocin that is naturally produced through the body’s metabolism of psilocybin from magic mushrooms. A phase 3 trial of HLP003 as an adjunctive therapy for major depressive disorder is set to read out by the end of this year. Release J&J’s innovative medicine chief passes baton Johnson & Johnson’s longtime innovative medicine head Jennifer Taubert is hanging up the gloves after 21 years of service at the company, leaving Tom Cavanaugh , who heads up the innovative medicine business on the North America side, in her place. The succession will be effective Sept. 1 and caps off Taubert’s lengthy tenure with J&J, which included leadership positions in internal medicines and in the North America pharma business before stepping into the executive team in 2018. One of the Fiercest Women in Life Sciences in 2019, the company attributes Taubert with helping to grow its innovative medicines business to more than $60 billion in annual revenue and making an “extraordinary impact,” CEO Joaquin Duato commented. Cavanaugh’s promotion follows nine years of leadership roles across oncology and immunology at J&J after joining the company in 2017 following a nearly 15-year tenure at Celgene. Duato pointed to the executive’s “deep understanding of our business, proven track record of growth and focus on developing people” in his appointment. Story > Claus Sundgreen , M.D., has been appointed chief medical officer of NRG Therapeutics, where he will leverage his expertise to guide the development of NRG’s phase 1 oral ALS candidate. Release > Neuro-focused Korsana Biosciences has expanded its C-suite with the appointments of Matthew Leoni , M.D., as chief medical officer and Gan Wei , Ph.D., as chief technical officer, as the company advances its Alzheimer's disease candidate. Release > cAMPfield Therapeutics has added to its boardroom with new executives, including Graham Heap , M.D., Ph.D., who joins as president of R&D. He is joined by Head of Clinical Development Ezequiel Neimark , M.D., Head of Medical Affairs Taylor Spector , Ph.D. and Scott Stirn , who will be head of chemistry, manufacturing, and controls. Release > Ascentage Pharma is strengthening its leadership team with the appointments of Faiçal Miyara , Ph.D., as chief business officer to head up global business development and Jim Ziegler , who will take on commercial functions as chief commercial officer. Release > Terremoto Biosciences’ R&D head James Christensen , Ph.D., is moving on up to CEO, succeeding Charles Baum , M.D., who will pivot instead to the executive chairman role. Release > J. Michael Ryan , M.D., has joined the Neurvati Neurosciences hive as CMO while Anne-Marie Li-Kwai-Cheung and Elliott Ruiz have been promoted to chief development officer and chief financial officer, respectively. Release > California biotech Synthekine has named Susan Molineaux , Ph.D., its CEO to help bring a non-small cell lung cancer asset through late-stage clinical development. Release > Marengo Therapeutics has a new immunology leader in AstraZeneca vet Saso Cemerski , Ph.D., who joins as senior vice president. Release (PDF)

One of the most closely-watched vacancies in biopharma has now been filled , with Sobi CEO Guido Oelkers, Ph.D., moving across to take up the top job at mRNA pioneer BioNTech. It’s been a six-month wait to find out who would head up the German company, after CEO Uğur Şahin, M.D., and his co-founder, chief medical officer and wife Özlem Türeci, M.D., announced in March that they will be heading off to launch a new company focused on “next-generation mRNA innovations.” After its founding in 2008, BioNTech rose to prominence and financial success thanks to its partnership with Pfizer for the blockbuster COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty. More recently, BioNTech’s strategy to become a “fully integrated immunotherapy powerhouse” has seen the company gear up to push for the approval of an HER2-targeted antibody-drug conjugate called trastuzumab pamirtecan, which is licensed from China’s DualityBio. BioNTech has already been touting 2026 as a “catalyst-rich year” that will see further phase 3 oncology readouts from the likes of trastuzumab pamirtecan and an OncoC4-partnered anti-CTLA-4 antibody called gotistobart. The Mainz, Germany-based company recently touted “ encouraging anti-tumor activity ” from its Bristol Myers Squibb-partnered PD-L1xVEGF-A bispecific immunomodulator pumitamig. This is the situation that Oelkers will be inheriting. As CEO of Swedish pharma Sobi since 2017, Oelkers has overseen the licensing of the respiratory syncytial virus therapy Synagis from AstraZeneca , the $915 million acquisition of Dova Pharmaceuticals for the thrombocytopenia medicine Doptelet and the launch of another bleeding disorder drug, Altuviiio , in partnership with Sanofi. In this morning’s release, BioNTech praised Oelkers for his “strong track record in transforming and scaling global organizations, driving sustainable growth through disciplined execution, focused capital allocation, and operational excellence.” “I have come to know Guido Oelkers as a leader who combines a deep understanding of the pharmaceutical industry and strong strategic acumen with genuine respect for the culture and people of our organization,” outgoing BioNTech CEO Sahin said in the release. “With Guido Oelkers taking over, I feel confident that BioNTech is in a strong position to realize its vision.” Oelkers, who is due to take up his new post by February 1, 2027 “at the latest,” said BioNTech “stands out through its scientific foundation and particularly its strong late-stage oncology pipeline.” “I am deeply honored to be leading BioNTech and prioritizing its evolution into a global biopharmaceutical company with multiple approved products by 2030, while continuing to advance its innovative pre-clinical and clinical portfolio in line with the company’s strategy,” he added. The appointment was the result of a “comprehensive selection process” led by BioNTech’s supervisory board, the company said in an August 3 release. A search for Türeci’s replacement as CMO remains ongoing.