for acute myeloid leukemia (AML), failed a late-stage study.
—Stat reported that cell and gene therapy companies are scrambling to compete for talent in their nascent fields.
—A former employee sued Biogen (NASDAQ: [[ticker:BIIB]]), alleging she was fired for questioning the company’s marketing practices. Fierce Biotech steps through the lawsuit here.
—Epizyme (NASDAQ: [[ticker:EPZM]]) disclosed a few setbacks to its lead program, cancer drug tazemetostat. It has delayed an FDA application in a type of soft tissue cancer, epithelioid sarcoma, and will no longer develop the drug as a monotherapy for diffuse large-B cell lymphoma. Shares fell 23 percent.
—Zafgen (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ZFGN]]) president and CSO Thomas Hughes is leaving to become CEO of Navitor Pharmaceuticals. Hughes was CEO from 2008 to 2017, guiding the company through a series of ups and downs.
—More people on the move this week: Oncorus of Cambridge, MA, named Ted Ashburn its new CEO and president… Shefali Agarwal is moving from SQZ Biotech to become Epizyme’s chief medical officer… BioDelivery Sciences of Raleigh, NC, has named Thomas Smith chief medical officer.
—Our profiles of the Xconomy Awards finalists rolled on this week with looks at this year’s nominees for the Big Idea and Contrarian awards.
Ben Fidler and Frank Vinulan contributed to this report.
Photo by Rob Russell under Creative Commons license.
