| The biggest bright spot for AstraZeneca over the last few years has been its work in oncology, as CEO Pascal Soriot has helped shepherd blockbusters Imfinzi, Lynparza, and Calquence, among other cancer medicines. One of the top executives from the cancer division is now making the leap to the larger C-suite. The Swedish-British pharma named its oncology chief development officer Cristian Massacesi as the new CMO. Massacesi, who will continue his role in oncology alongside CMO duties, replaces Ann Taylor, who retired this summer after two years as CMO and two decades at Pfizer, Novartis, AstraZeneca subsidiary MedImmune and ultimately AstraZeneca. Massacesi is a Pfizer and Novartis veteran himself, coming to AstraZeneca in 2017 after leading an immuno-oncology team at Pfizer. Before joining Pfizer, he led clinical development for P13K and ALK molecules at Novartis. While he was there, the company got the ALK drug Zykadia approved for certain lung cancer patients and, in 2017, the P13K breast cancer drug Piqray followed. The oncologist will take over medical duties as AstraZeneca continues to try to push its Covid-19 antibodies across the finish line, while developing its next generation of cancer medicines, including follow-on ADCs to their fast-selling breast cancer drug Enhertu alongside Daiichi Sankyo. — Jason Mast |