Late stage Biotech appoints CCO to lead first commercial launch

VBL Therapeutics is an Israel-based small cap, publicly traded (NASDAQ: VBLT) late clinical stage biotech focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of first-in-class treatments for areas of unmet need in cancer and immune/inflammatory indications.  VBL has pioneered and is actively developing three novel platform technologies. The Company’s most advanced program is the anti-cancer gene-therapy program, in which VB-111 is the lead candidate. VB-111 is positioned to potentially treat a wide range of solid tumors and is currently being studied in a Phase 3 registration-enabling clinical trial for platinum-resistant ovarian cancer.  The inflection point of a first commercial launch prompted the search for a CCO. The candidate needed to be based in the Tri-State Area to work alongside VBL’s CFO. For now, the rest of the senior leadership team is based in Israel with plans to expand the US team upon successful data read-outs.

The Approach

High interest from the commercial oncology space, both big pharma as well as smaller biotechs, led to a large candidate pool, driven by our network, for this search. Our focus narrowed to candidates with big pharma backgrounds possessing experience with launching a  successful first commercial launch for a biotech. However, as this was a lean commercial team, a successful CCO hire would need to be able and willing to perform both high level and, sub-functional aspects of a commercial roll out. Traditional big pharma profiles may not be successful coming into an environment like this, due to resource challenges and team size. Identifying candidates in big pharma who were able to “roll up their sleeves” and be “in the weeds” was the major challenge.

The Outcome

Matt Trudeau was the ideal profile with a big pharma background and more recent experience in a biotech setting.  He was previously Head of the US Business at bluebird bio, reporting into the CCO, where he helped with their first gene therapy product launch.  He rose up the commercial ranks prior to that at Biogen making him well equipped for the unique nuances of this role. For additional information on Matt’s appointment, please read the press release here.