Things are moving quickly at Blueprint Medicines. In the span of a few years, the company has gone from being strictly a clinical-stage biotech to a commercial biopharma with a potential blockbuster in tow.
And with its altered mission has come a change in leadership. Earlier this month, Katie Haviland was named Blueprint’s new CEO, succeeding Jeff Albers. On Thursday, the company announced two new additions to its C-Suite.
Philina Lee, Ph.D., is Blueprint’s new chief commercial officer, a big job considering the promise of Ayvakit, a treatment for the rare blood disorder advanced systemic mastocytosis. The drug scored its FDA approval last June.
Also joining the executive team is Helen Ho, Ph.D., who becomes the chief business officer, adding portfolio strategy and program management to her current responsibilities of corporate and business development.
Both of the execs landed promotions from within the company. Lee joined Blueprint in 2014 and has held multiple commercial roles with responsibility for strategy, operations, patient services, marketing and the precision medicine field team. She has laid the groundwork for the commercial strategy, driving the launches of Ayvakit and Gavreto, a Roche-partnered thyroid cancer drug which scored FDA approval in September 2020.
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Lee replaces Christy Rossi, who moved from the chief commercial officer post to chief operating officer. Rossi’s shift came with Haviland’s promotion from COO to CEO.
“We believe we are poised for transformational growth over the next 12-18 months,” Blueprint's outgoing CEO Albers said in a release. “As Philina and Helen step into these roles, their leadership help will ensure consistency of approach while bringing diversity of perspective and experience as we work to achieve our goals.”
Ho, who came to Blueprint in 2018 as VP of corporate development, played a key role the company's acquisition of Lengo Therapeutics and in establishing partnerships with companies such as Roche, Ipsen, CStone and ZaiLab.
Earlier this month, Albers announced that he would transition to an executive chairman role through 2022 and then continue as chairman. Haviland’s promotion to CEO becomes effective on April 4.
Albers drove several milestones at Blueprint since taking over from Third Rock Ventures partner and company co-founder Alexis Borisy in 2014. Blueprint went public in an upsized IPO in 2015.