Asundexian

The price differential between the US and other countries “will be significantly narrower or smaller” going forward because of pressure from the Trump administration’s “most favored nation” deals, Bayer’s chief operating officer for its pharma division said, adding to similar comments by other pharma executives. Sebastian Guth, who also serves as the head of Bayer’s US pharma unit, spoke to Endpoints News during an interview this week in New York. Bayer was one of a few large, global drug developers that wasn’t brought into the Trump administration’s first round of pricing negotiations. Since announcing most of those deals last year, however, the White House has been working to bring in more companies, and also to turn the pricing agreements into law — an idea much of the industry opposes . However, that won’t stop what appears to be pressure to get European countries to pay more, which has been a major focus of the administration. That pressure is being deployed on multiple fronts, ranging from the company agreements to tariffs. Guth told Endpoints that the UK’s deal with the US was a useful framework. Under that agreement, the British government agreed to begin paying more for drugs, and in return avoided stiff tariffs on pharmaceutical products made in the country and sent to the US. “It’s a first blueprint of another wealthy country, in this case the UK, that basically says we acknowledge that things need to change, and we’re committing ourselves to a path through which we will be narrowing the price differentials,” Guth said. For Bayer, there’s a coming test of the pricing power between the US and other wealthy nations. The company is in early talks with regulators around the world about its experimental stroke medicine asundexian, a blood thinner that showed strong results in a Phase 3 trial. Asked how Bayer might price the drug around the world, Guth said it was “premature” to say, “because we’ve said we’re in the early days of conversations with regulators.” “Make no mistake, though, [most favored nation] is in my mind clearly here to stay, and will impact every product launch in our industry,” Guth said.

→ Tim Coleman has retired as chief technology officer at Eli Lilly , ending a 35-year career with the pharma giant in his hometown of Indianapolis. Coleman held countless positions at Lilly before his appointment as technology chief in December 2022, including VP and information officer for the medicines development unit. Terry Morris , Lilly’s associate VP for clinical tech, posted a photo on LinkedIn as Coleman literally walked out the door for the final time. “My career — and the careers of countless colleagues — has been permanently shaped by his investment in us. The time he gave. The belief he extended. The standard he modeled,” Morris wrote. → Astellas chief strategy officer Adam Pearson is out , leaving a key vacancy at the Japanese pharma. Corporate strategy head Peter Sandor is replacing Pearson on an interim basis. Pearson spent 21 years with Astellas and was elevated to chief strategy officer in 2023, when his predecessor Naoki Okamura took over as CEO. Astellas decided not to pick up AviadoBio ’s gene therapy for frontotemporal dementia this week, despite its continued work in the space. → Nelson Ambrogio will be elevated to US president of Bayer ’s pharmaceutical operations on May 1. Ambrogio joined Bayer in 2007 and Peer Review covered another promotion in 2024, when he replaced Gerd Krueger as president of Bayer’s global radiology business. He also oversaw the US oncology and US women’s healthcare teams. CEO Bill Anderson hasn’t stopped whittling down the headcount at Bayer, which detailed a Phase 3 win for its next-gen blood thinner asundexian in patients who have experienced an ischemic stroke. → Takeda is retooling its board of directors by intending to add J&J vet Paul Stoffels , ex- Humana CEO Bruce Broussard and Eurasia Group senior advisor Koichiro Kimura . CEO-designate Julie Kim will also be on the board by the time she takes over from Christophe Weber in June. Jean Luc Butel , Ian Clark , Yoshiaki Fujimori , Koji Hatsukawa , Emiko Higashi and Michel Orsinger all plan to retire from the board. Takeda is laying off more than 600 US employees as part of a restructuring that could save the company $1.8 billion by fiscal 2028. Peer Review spoke with Stoffels when he retired as CEO of Galapagos last year, which you can read here . → By the way, Galapagos has tapped Gino Santini as chairman of the board, and if shareholders sign off on the appointment, he will succeed Jérôme Contamine on April 28. Santini also chairs the board at Collegium Pharmaceutical and Compass Pathways , and he was SVP of corporate strategy & business development at the end of a long career with Eli Lilly. Santini might not be the only change coming to Galapagos in the near term. As the drug developer seeks to work with Gilead on T cell engagers from Ouro Medicines , it will ask shareholders to ditch the Galapagos brand in favor of a new name : Lakefront Biotherapeutics . CEO Henry Gosebruch is building out a whole new team in Chicago, home to an enviable lakefront path. → It’s another quick stop in the CEO post for Oz Azam , who handed the reins to Lucinda Warren at Cue Biopharma last week on an interim basis. Azam was hired in September 2025 after two years as CEO of Inspirna and a year in the top spot at Empyrean Neuroscience . Warren became chief financial and business officer in February and had been CBO at Cue since September 2024. She engineered a partnership with Boehringer Ingelheim in which the German pharma paid $12 million upfront to license Cue’s bispecific antibody CUE-501 . → Over in Paris, preclinical immunotherapy startup Signadori Bio has found a new CEO. Selwyn Ho will steer the company going forward and will succeed Matthieu Coutet . Ho was previously CEO of T cell receptor company Medigene . Coutet, a partner at Sofinnova , will become chairman of Signadori. → Xaira Therapeutics , the $1 billion AI bet with big aspirations and an all-star cast on the board of directors, has selected Rachel Lane as SVP, business development and operations. Lane is a Versant and Calico alum who was CBO of Belharra Therapeutics , a San Diego startup that hasn’t put out a press release in more than a year and laid off 40% of its employees in December 2024. Xaira president and COO Jeff Jonker was her boss at Belharra. Xaira just revealed a virtual model called X-Cell after mostly toiling in the background in the two years since its launch. “As we continue building models like X-Cell and expanding our platform, strong partnerships will be essential, and Rachel will play a central role in how we connect our science to the broader ecosystem,” Xaira CEO Marc Tessier-Lavigne wrote on LinkedIn. → Ardelyx has tapped Rajani Dinavahi as CMO. According to the Ibsrela and Xphozah maker, Dinavahi will help with “strengthening our pipeline, deepening our medical capabilities, and ensuring we continue to deliver meaningful outcomes for patients.” Dinavahi departed the same post at Atara Biotherapeutics about a year ago. She had spent six years at that T cell immunotherapy company, which received another FDA rejection for its cell therapy in January. → The Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina may be over, but a local biotech is still attracting attention and adding to its team. Italian gene therapy maker AAVantgarde Bio has Philip Lao on its roster as SVP of business development. Lao said in a press release that he will work on “expanding strategic partnership and commercial opportunities” for the biotech’s experimental retinal treatments and other projects. He was previously head of BD at Adverum Biotechnologies , the ophthalmology gene therapy company that Eli Lilly acquired last year. → Royalty Pharma has been in Peer Review three times in the past month for roles focused on China, AI and partnering. Now, it’s losing an executive. Chief accounting officer Kristin Stafford has made her way to Zymeworks as CFO. Her first day at the Canadian cancer biotech was Wednesday. The Jazz – partnered company has shaken up its C-suite over the past year: Its chief medical officer was replaced, and its CFO and general counsel departed . → Genentech ’s US-Belgian molecular glue partner Orionis Biosciences has recruited Giulio Draetta as chief strategy officer. Draetta’s LinkedIn page indicates that he started his new job in January after 14 years at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, where he had been CSO since March 2019. Genentech shelled out $105 million upfront last spring in its second deal with Orionis. → Staying in the space, Austrian molecular glue shop Proxygen has introduced Chiara Conti as CSO. She spent more than seven years with Blueprint Medicines and was a senior director when Sanofi scooped up the biotech last year. Like Orionis, Proxygen also has a major pharma partner, teaming up with Merck for up to $2.55 billion almost three years ago today. → Ligand Pharmaceuticals has lined up two VPs of investments and business development: Peter Renehan was bumped up to principal during a six-year run at Blackstone Life Sciences , and Lee Brown worked at Third Bridge Group was global team leader for healthcare. One other Ligand note: Lauren Hay has been promoted to VP of portfolio strategy and investments. → As Daniel Vitt looks for his successor at Immunic , the neuro and gastrointestinal disease biotech has elected Mineralys Therapeutics CEO Jon Congleton to the board of directors. Immunic said in February that Vitt would have a different leadership role when the new CEO is in place. Roche alum Simona Skerjanec has moved up to interim chair of the board. → Vafseo maker Akebia Therapeutics has welcomed Solu Therapeutics CEO Phil Vickers to the board of directors as Steven Gilman retires. Peer Review caught up with Vickers in 2023 when he took the Solu job. Earlier, he led Third Rock ’s Faze Medicines until it shut down two years into its journey. → Inhibikase Therapeutics CEO and Atlas Venture advisor Mark Iwicki is the newest board member at Nocion Therapeutics , which is developing an inhaled chronic cough candidate. Iwicki chairs the board at Q32 Bio and he has spent 11 years on the board at Nimbus Therapeutics .