Cerevel Therapeutics Holdings Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tony Coles, 62, will step down next month after four years at the helm of the neuroscience drugmaker, which has faced delays in developing new treatments.
(Bloomberg) — Cerevel Therapeutics Holdings Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tony Coles, 62, will step down next month after four years at the helm of the neuroscience drugmaker, which has faced delays in developing new treatments.
Coles, a longtime biotech executive, will be replaced by Ron Renaud, a partner at Bain Capital Life Sciences and former CEO of Translate Bio, an mRNA company that was acquired by Sanofi in 2021. Renaud, 54, will leave Bain in May and start at Cerevel in June.
Shares of Cerevel fell 6.6% as of 9:47 a.m. in New York.
Pfizer Inc. and Bain Capital created Cerevel in 2018 when Pfizer exited neuroscience research by spinning out the division. Cerevel started out with several experimental drugs that were under development at Pfizer for conditions such as schizophrenia, Parkinson’s disease and epilepsy.
Bain remains Cerevel’s largest investor, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. In an interview, Coles said Renaud’s connection to Bain is coincidental and the board ran a comprehensive search for his successor.
“He emerged as the top candidate for the role, mostly because of his operating and his financial experience,” Coles said. “Our colleagues at Bain were really happy to endorse that particular decision and are very supportive, as is the rest of the board.”
It’s notoriously difficult and slow to develop drugs for neurological conditions since trials can take years to conduct and proving a clinical benefit tends to not be straightforward. Cerevel has struggled to enroll patients in its trials in part because of lingering staffing challenges at medical centers from the pandemic. The company recently said as a result of these issues, results from studies of its Parkinson’s and epilepsy drugs would be delayed. The company has no approved drugs.
Coles has been involved with Cerevel since it was formed in 2018, first as chair of the board of directors then as chief executive starting in 2019. He will remain chair of the board. Coles also plans to spend more time on economic and social justice, such as with an organization he co-founded called the Black Economic Alliance.
“This feels like a great time for Ron to take the baton and really build exponentially upon what we have established,” Coles said.
Renaud said it’s too early to outline any changes he wants to make at Cerevel.
Shares of Cerevel were down 2% this year as of Tuesday’s close. They’ve more than doubled since the company went public via a special purpose acquisition company in 2020.
(Updates with shares in third paragraph)
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