Celgene COO Scott Smith Steps Down
In line with what it said were plans to modify its executive team structure “to enhance leadership focus on building the company for continued long-term success,” Celgene said its chief operating officer, Scott Smith, is stepping down with immediate effect.
CEO Mark Alles will take over Smith’s responsibilities, the biopharma company said. While declining to provide further details, Celgene said Alles will also take over the “strategic leadership” of the oncology unit, as well as manufacturing, clinical development and regulatory functions.
Smith was promoted to COO in April 2017 after serving as head of the company’s inflammation and immunology unit.
As reasons for the management shakeup, reports said Celgene had been looking forward to a series of milestones, including a potential FDA approval for its multiple sclerosis candidate Ozanimod; however, success was not forthcoming.
Instead, in October 2017, the company was forced to end a phase 3 trial with GED-301, a drug to treat inflammatory bowel disease that it had paid more than $700 million to acquire three years earlier. It also missed its earnings targets and scaled back 2020 sales guidance from $20 billion to $19 billion, as psoriasis drug Otezla did failed to meet expectations.
As the final blow, in late February 2018 the FDA sent the company a “refuse to file” notice for ozanimod, citing the need for additional pharmacology data.
Aanalysts commenting on the news to the trade journal Fierce Pharma said the executive shuffle was not surprising, given the recent disappointments in Celgene’s immunology franchise.
One commentator compared Scott’s departure to developments at Biogen in 2015, when the company halved its sales forecast and dismissed its top management. Another worried whether Celgene’s ongoing pharmacology studies with ozanimod would sufficiently address the agency’s concerns.
