A roundup of news from Pfizer, Amgen, and Novartis. Highlights below.  

Appointments 
* Pfizer Names New Chief Scientific Officer & President, R&D 
* Amgen Names New Chief Scientific Officer, SVP of Research 
Partnering 
* Novartis, Ratio Therapeutics in $745-M Radiopharmaceutical Pact  

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Appointments 

Pfizer Names New Chief Scientific Officer & President, R&D  
Pfizer has named Chris Boshoff, M.D., PhD, previously Pfizer’s Chief Oncology Officer and Executive Vice President, as Chief Scientific Officer and President, Research & Development. effective January 1, 2025. He will succeed Dr. Mikael Dolsten in those roles and whose departure from Pfizer was announced earlier this year (2024). In his new role, Dr. Boshoff will remain a member of Pfizer’s Executive Leadership Team reporting to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Albert Bourla, and he will oversee all functions of Research & Development across all therapeutic areas. 

Pfizer’s Oncology R&D organization will maintain its integrated structure with Roger Dansey, M.D. serving as Interim Chief Oncology Officer, reporting to Dr. Boshoff,effective January 1, 2025. Dr. Dansey will assist Dr. Boshoff in selecting a permanent Chief Oncology Officer, after which time he will retire from Pfizer. He will also facilitate a smooth transition of his current responsibilities to his successor, Johanna Bendell, M.D., who will be joining Pfizer from Roche in 2025 as Chief Development Officer, Oncology. 

Source: Pfizer 

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Amgen Names New Chief Scientific Officer, SVP of Research 
Amgen has named Howard Chang, M.D., Ph.D., a professor with Stanford University’s School of Medicine, as Senior Vice President of Research, effective December 16, 2024. Dr. Chang will also assume the title and responsibility of serving as Amgen’s Chief Scientific Officer, reporting to Jay Bradner, M.D., Executive Vice President of Research and Development. 

Dr. Chang is the Virginia and D. K. Ludwig Professor of Cancer Research and Professor of Genetics and Pathology at Stanford University. He served as Director of the National Institutes of Health’s Center of Excellence in Genomic Science: Center for Personal Dynamic Regulome from 2014 to the present and for the past two years as Stanford’s Director, RNA Medicine Program  

He will be responsible for establishing and leading all research priorities within Amgen’s rare disease, oncology, inflammation, and cardiometabolic therapeutic areas. He will also oversee operations in key research hubs from San Francisco to Thousand Oaks, and across the company’s global network of specialized sites in Reykjavik, Iceland, Copenhagen, Munich, British Columbia, and Maryland. 

He succeeds Ray Deshaies, Ph.D., former Senior Vice President of Research, whose departure was announced earlier this year (2024).  

Source: Amgen 

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Partnering News 

Novartis, Ratio Therapeutics in $745-M Radiopharmaceutical Pact 

Novartis has entered into an exclusive worldwide license and collaboration agreement atio Ratio Therapeutics, a Boston-based clinical-stage radiopharmaceutical company, for the discovery and development of a somatostatin receptor 2 (SSTR2) radiotherapeutic candidate for cancer, in a deal worth up to $745 million.     

Under the agreement, Ratio will receive combined upfront and potential milestone payments up to $745 million and is eligible to receive tiered royalty payments. Ratio will collaborate with Novartis to drive preclinical activities to research and select an SSTR2-targeting development candidate. Novartis will assume responsibility for all remaining development, manufacturing, and commercialization activities.   

Source: Ratio Therapeutics