Ex-AstraZeneca Exec Morrison Grabs Helm at Syndax Pharma

Waltham, MA-based Syndax Pharmaceuticals named former AstraZeneca chief medical officer Briggs Morrison its new CEO, and Michael Metzger, onetime Regado Biosciences president and CEO, its new president. Morrison and and Metzger are replacing former leader Arlene Morris—whose name was conspicuously absent from the news release. FierceBiotech first reported news of Morrison’s departure from AstraZeneca last week. Read more here for the immuno-oncology focused strategy that Syndax—which flirted with an IPO last year under Morris—intends to pursue.

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.