New hires at Crescendo, Healx and Galecto

Crescendo

Crescendo Biologics has appointed Kenji Hashimoto as its new chief medical officer, who joins Crescendo with over 15 years of experience in oncology and immuno-oncology.

Prior to Crescendo, Hashimoto (pictured below, right) led the clinical development of a checkpoint inhibitor in renal cell carcinoma at Roche, and held responsibility for multiple late phase clinical trials.

Before that, he was clinical research physician at Chugai Pharma Europe, where he led clinical development for a bispecific T-cell engaging antibody programme and other early phase projects.

“Kenji has considerable immuno-oncology expertise and an impressive track record in leading clinical development programmes,” said Theodora Harold, CEO of Crescendo Biologics.

“This experience will be crucial as we progress our pipeline of innovative, first in class, T cell enhancing programmes,” she added.

Healx

Strengthening the senior leadership team at AI-powered technology company Healx is Anthony Hall, who has been appointed to the role of chief medical officer.

Hall (pictured left) has over 25 years of experience in drug development, with the last decade spent focused on rare diseases. He co-founded the rare disease patient group support charity Findacure with Nick Sireau, the advisor to and the inspiration behind Healx.

Hall’s experience in drug development includes significant contributions to the repurposing of nitisinone for the treatment of alkaptonuria (AKU) – a rare genetic disease which affect Sireau’s two sons. Prior to joining Healx, he worked as CMO at Aparito and as therapeutic area head of orphan drugs at Mereo BioPharma.

Galecto

Galecto, a clinical stage company developing treatments for fibrosis and cancer, has appointed Bertil Lindmark as its new chief medical officer.

He joins Galecto from eTheRNA immunotherapies, a Belgian mRNA immunotherapy company. Lindmark (pictured right) has had an extensive career in the pharmaceutical industry, with experience in clinical development and regulatory gained from positions across the globe.

Prior to eTheRNA, Lindmark served as global VP of clinical development for the respiratory and inflammation franchises at AstraZeneca. In that role, he led the development of Symbicort, a leading respiratory brand. Before that, he lead global R&D at Almirall, which involved 500 staff and the development and approval of several new drugs in a number of therapy areas.