Sage Therapeutics has made several changes at the top level, including the appointment of Shire’s Dr Jeffrey Jonas as CEO.
The other key appointments are AstraZeneca’s Stephen Kanes as chief medical officer and Santhera’s Kimi Iguchi as chief financial officer.
The changes come two years after the formation of the central nervous system (CNS) specialist and signal the expected growth of Sage as it moves its research programmes into late-stage development.
This will be headed by Dr Jonas (pictured), who was president of regenerative medicines at Shire and has a career in the life sciences that spans more than 20 years and includes CNS experience.
His roles prior to joining Shire include serving as executive VP of Isis Pharmaceuticals and chief medical officer of Forest Laboratories.
Dr Jonas also has entrepreneurial experience, founding Avax technologies and Sceptor Industries.
His new colleagues include Dr Kanes, who was most recently executive director/ therapeutic area clinical director for the inflammation, neuroscience and respiratory GMED division of AZ.
Dr Kanes also has experience as a faculty member in the psychiatry department at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Iguchi joins from her role as chief operating officer, North America, for Santhera.
Her previous positions include VP, finance, for Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems, as well as senior financial roles at Biogen and Millennium Pharmaceuticals.