Eli Lilly Appoints Loxo CEO Josh Bilenker as Interim Head of Oncology Following Leadership Shake-up

Compiled by: Fan Dongdong

On August 7 (local time), Eli Lilly announced that Dr. Levi Garraway, Senior Vice President of Global Oncology Development and Medical Affairs, has left the company. Josh Bilenker, CEO of Loxo Oncology, will serve as the “interim” head of this role.

Three years ago, Garraway succeeded Dr. Richard Gaynor as one of the heads of Eli Lilly’s Oncology Division; Gaynor had previously worked at Eli Lilly for 15 years. Bilenker, who is succeeding Garraway, formerly served at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and held the position of Associate Professor of Medicine in Medical Oncology at Harvard Medical School. Specific details regarding this leadership change have not been publicly disclosed, but FierceBiotech noted that the “interim” designation may stem from the adjustment being unplanned. It remains unclear whether this interim leadership role will eventually transition into a permanent position.

This personnel change has drawn attention because the head of Loxo will directly oversee Eli Lilly’s oncology product portfolio. In January 2019, Eli Lilly acquired Loxo Oncology, Inc. for $235 per share in cash (totaling approximately $8 billion), undeniably one of the most closely watched oncology deals in the first half of 2019. Loxo’s pipeline includes several blockbuster drug candidates, such as LOXO-292, LOXO-305, and LOXO-195, as well as the oral TRK inhibitor Vitrakvi (LOXO-101), which previously sparked extensive industry discussion.Vitrakvi has received formal approval from the U.S. FDA for the treatment of locally advanced or metastatic solid tumors in adults and pediatric patients with neurotrophic tyrosine kinase (NTRK) gene fusions, marking it as the first approved oral TRK inhibitor.

The most significant difference from previous targeted therapies is that Vitrakvi was not developed to target tumors at a specific anatomical site, but rather as a broad-spectrum oncology drug for adult and pediatric patients with solid tumors harboring NTRK gene fusions.

In the second half of this year, Eli Lilly may submit three regulatory applications, including one for the RET inhibitor LOXO-292, acquired through its acquisition of Loxo Oncology, for the treatment of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and thyroid cancer harboring specific RET gene mutations; as well as applications to expand the indications of the IL-17A inhibitor Taltz in the European Union and Japan for the treatment of radiographic axial spondyloarthritis.

Prior to this leadership shake-up, Eli Lilly’s oncology division had just encountered several setbacks, including the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s formal public warning in May that 14 Japanese patients developed interstitial lung disease while taking Eli Lilly’s breast cancer drug Verzenio, urging caution regarding potential pulmonary side effects associated with Verzenio.

Reference source: Eli Lilly cancer chief Levi Garraway replaced by Loxo CEO Josh Bilenker (for now) as Big Pharma rings the changes