Cambridge, MA-based Verastem (NASDAQ: [[ticker:VSTM]]) has shaken up its board of directors. Christoph Westphal, who co-founded the company in 2010, ran it as chairman and CEO in its early days, and took the company public in 2012, has stepped down from the board, as has former Genzyme CEO Henri Termeer. Westphal moved from Verastem CEO to executive chairman in 2013, and is now the chairman and CEO of a different startup he also helped form, Flex Pharma (NASDAQ: [[ticker:FLKS]]). Verastem said that Bruce Wendel, the former CEO of Abraxis Bioscience, will join its board, and Michael Kauffman, who has been a director since November 2012, will now be a lead director.
Author: Ben Fidler
Ben is former Xconomy Deputy Editor, Biotechnology. He is a seasoned business journalist that comes to Xconomy after a nine-year stint at The Deal, where he covered corporate transactions in industries ranging from biotech to auto parts and gaming. Most recently, Ben was The Deal’s senior healthcare writer, focusing on acquisitions, venture financings, IPOs, partnerships and industry trends in the pharmaceutical, biotech, diagnostics and med tech spaces. Ben wrote features on creative biotech financing models, analyses of middle market and large cap buyouts, spin-offs and restructurings, and enterprise pieces on legal issues such as pay-for-delay agreements and the Affordable Care Act. Before switching to the healthcare beat, Ben was The Deal's senior bankruptcy reporter, covering the restructurings of the Texas Rangers, Phoenix Coyotes, GM, Delphi, Trump Entertainment Resorts and Blockbuster, among others. Ben has a bachelor’s degree in English from Binghamton University.
View all posts by Ben Fidler