Bayer and CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CRSP]]) have named James Burns the president and CEO of Cambridge, MA-based Casebia Therapeutics, a joint venture the two companies created to develop gene editing drugs for blood disorders, blindness, and heart disease. Burns has been at Sanofi/Genzyme for three decades, and most recently ran the company’s North American R&D hub. Bayer executive Axel Bouchon had been serving as Casebia’s interim CEO.
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.
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