Pascal Touchon has been appointed president and CEO of Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ATRA]]). He is also joining the South San Francisco company’s board of directors. He succeeds Isaac Ciechanover, who announced earlier this year that he would step down as president, CEO, and board member.
Atara said Ciechanover will serve as a special advisor to a board subcommittee that will lead the company until Touchon starts on June 24. Touchon most recently worked at Novartis (NYSE:[[ticker:NVS]]), where he was global head, cell & gene in the company’s oncology unit. In other moves, Dietmar Berger, Atara’s global head of research and development, is resigning from the company effective May 31 to pursue other opportunities. Atara is developing cell therapies to treat cancer, autoimmune, and viral diseases.
