- Push-out Score determined
- After about five years in the position
- Frederick Vogt taking over in the interim
- Search for a successor
(exechange) — San Carlos, California, May 19, 2021 — Maria Fardis, chief executive of Iovance, leaves. As announced by Iovance Biotherapeutics Inc. in a regulatory filing published on Wednesday, May 19, 2021, Maria Fardis leaves her post as chief executive officer at the biopharmaceutical startup after about five years in the role.
The exact date of Maria Fardis’s departure from her post was not explicitly stated in the announcement.
Iovance will undertake a search for a successor.
Maria Fardis’s duties as CEO will be taken over in the interim by Frederick G. Vogt, currently General Counsel at Iovance Biotherapeutics Inc., as interim Chief Executive Officer.
Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. still listed Fardis as President & Chief Executive Officer on its leadership page on its website shortly after the announcement was published.
“To pursue other opportunities”
Maria Fardis’s departure from the CEO post is explained as follows. Iovance said: “On May 18, 2021, Maria Fardis, Ph.D., the Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) of Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. (the “Company”), notified the Company that she will be resigning as President, CEO and a director of the Company to pursue other opportunities.”
Precise information regarding Maria Fardis’s future plans was not immediately available.
Share price decline since January 2021
The announcement follows a decline in Iovance Biotherapeutics Inc.’s share price of 42% since January 2021.
Chaired by Iain Dukes
Iain Dukes serves as Iovance Biotherapeutics Inc.’s Chairman.
Dukes joined the Iovance Board of Directors and was appointed Chairman of the Board in August 2016. Dukes is a Venture Partner at OrbiMed Advisors. He previously served as Senior Vice President and Head of Business Development and Licensing for Merck Research Laboratories.
In the position of CEO since 2016
Maria Fardis became CEO of the Company in 2016.
Fardis joined the Company as President and Chief Executive Officer on June 1, 2016 and was appointed to the Company’s Board of Directors on June 7, 2016.
Since joining, the Company has been transformed from an early-stage development company to a company with multiple late-stage programs involving lifileucel and LN-145 for treatment of multiple solid tumors.
Fardis served as the Chief Operating Officer of Acerta Pharma B.V., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, from January 2015 to March 2016, where she worked on the development of Calquence® until the company’s acquisition by AstraZeneca.
From 2011 to 2014, she worked at Pharmacyclics, Inc., where she was a key contributor in the creation of a broad clinical program leading to global approvals for Imbruvica® in multiple hematologic malignancies, and where she served as Chief of Oncology Operations and Alliances.
Prior to joining Pharmacyclics, from August 2001 to April 2011, Fardis held increasingly senior positions in Medicinal Chemistry and the project and portfolio management department at Gilead Sciences, Inc., where she was involved with multiple therapeutic areas including antivirals, oncology, and cardiovascular therapeutics and worked on the development and life cycle management of Letairis®.
Fardis received her Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley and her B.S. summa cum laude, in chemistry from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Fardis holds an M.B.A., with highest honors, from Golden Gate University.
Push-out Score determined
The Push-out Score™ determined by exechange gauges the pressure surrounding Maria Fardis’s move on a scale of 0 to 10.
exechange reached out to Iovance and offered the company the opportunity to comment on the score.
Read the full story in the exechange report 21.2021 ($).