Biogen has taken a step to “significantly refresh” its board of directors, departing chair Stelios Papadopoulos, Ph.D., said. But the reported romantic relationship between a new nominee and a departing member raises questions about the extent of this reshuffle.
Susan Langer, 32, has been named a new member of Biogen’s board of directors, the company said Monday.
In the meantime, current directors Alex Denner, Ph.D., 53, William Jones, 67, and Richard Mulligan, Ph.D., 68, will step down. The changes effectively left two empty seats on Biogen’s board.
Biogen made the decision based on shareholder feedback, and the board “unanimously determined that it is in the best interest of Biogen and its stockholders to significantly refresh the membership of the board of directors at this time,” Papadopoulos, 74, said in a proxy filing (PDF).
But Langer, daughter of the legendary MIT professor and prolific biotech entrepreneur Bob Langer, is Denner’s romantic partner, Endpoints News reported, citing people familiar with the situation.
A Biogen director recommended Langer for this role, the proxy filing shows. And according to Endpoints, that nominator was Denner. Denner has served on Biogen’s board since 2009 and is the chair of the company’s corporate governance committee. He is also chair of Sarissa Capital, which has waged recent proxy battles against Amarin and Alkermes.
Langer is “a highly qualified director who can help support Biogen’s ambitious growth plans,” Caroline Dorsa, Biogen’s incoming chair, said in a statement on Monday. Biogen announced Dorsa’s succession of Papadopoulos in March.
In addition, Langer once headed up corporate strategy at Biogen, where she led more than a dozen transactions and other company-wide initiatives, according to the Massachusetts biotech.
Langer brings “fresh perspective to the board,” a Biogen spokesperson said in a statement to Fierce Pharma, adding that she “knows the company and the biotech ecosystem very well.”
Langer is currently president at Soufflé Therapeutics. She was the founding president of Kojin Therapeutics, which is delving into cell states to treat various diseases, and was the founding chief business officer of Paratus Sciences, which just raised a $100 million series A to borrow from bat biology to solve human diseases.
Her past experience also includes board membership at NextRNA Therapeutics, which Bob Langer co-founded, as well as partner stints at Old Silver VC and Guava Partners.
The Biogen board shakeup comes as the embattled biotech charts a return-to-growth path under new CEO Chris Viehbacher. The new CEO is looking at shaking up the pipeline and is considering potentially reprioritizing the company’s research from neuroscience to immunology. In addition, M&A is expected to play a part in the reshaping of the company.
Meanwhile, Biogen’s Sage Therapeutics-partnered depression drug zuranalone is up for an FDA decision in August. Its Eisai-partnered Alzheimer’s disease drug Leqembi looks on track to gain full FDA approval after winning unanimous backing from an advisory committee. And Biogen and Ionis’ amyotrophic lateral sclerosis drug Qalsody just got an accelerated approval.
A fresh board could give Viehbacher more flexibility to execute his strategy. For his part, Papadopoulos is leaving as he nears the 75-year age limit under Biogen’s policy.
Stephen Sherwin, M.D., a clinical professor at the University of California, San Francisco, at the age of 74, is also approaching that age limit. But Sherwin is standing for re-election for another year as Biogen’s director, a position he has held since 2010.
As for the two empty seats and potential future composition of the board, the Biogen spokesperson said both Viehbacher and Dorsa are “committed to building on the company’s great legacy and to putting the company back on a sustainable growth path to deliver enhanced value for our patients, employees and stockholders.”
Biogen had originally planned to elect its board during its annual meeting Tuesday. Now, the company has postponed the meeting to June 26 “to give stockholders sufficient time to review the changes.”
Editor's Note: The story has been updated with a statement from a Biogen spokesperson.
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