Cerevel to change up CEO as 7 data readouts near showdown
BIOMARKER
1. Tony Coles, M.D., is stepping down as CEO of Cerevel Therapeutics after four years in the position.
2. Ron Renaud, a partner at Bain Capital, will take over as the new president, CEO, and board member of Cerevel starting June 12.
3. Coles will return to his previous role as chair of the board, a position he held in 2018.
4. Under Coles' leadership, Cerevel went public in 2020 and has raised more than $1.5 billion since its launch in 2018.
5. Renaud has previously served as president and CEO of Translate Bio and Idenix Pharmaceuticals, both of which were acquired by large pharmaceutical companies.
6. Coles described the leadership change as coming at a "critical inflection point" with the biotech expecting seven data readouts in the near future.
7. One of the upcoming readouts is for emraclidine, a drug being evaluated for patients with schizophrenia who experience psychosis.
8. Cerevel is planning a commercial launch for emraclidine and is also studying the drug for use in Alzheimer’s disease psychosis.
9. Other expected readouts include a phase 2 data for darigabat in epilepsy, phase 3 results for tavapadon for Parkinson’s, and a phase 2a study for CVL-871 for treating dementia-related apathy.
10. Regarding his future plans, Coles plans to focus on his role as chair at Cerevel, but is also interested in addressing social justice and economic equity issues for Black Americans.