Kite Pharma is flying high with the addition of a new member to its senior leadership team.
Brian Heath has joined Gilead Sciences’ cell therapy subsidiary as a senior vice president and head of global commercial, he announced on LinkedIn this week.
“CAR T-cell therapy has changed the paradigm of cancer treatment, and there has never been a more exciting time for cell therapy innovation than today. I’m proud to join the world-class team responsible for bringing this transformative treatment with curative potential to more patients,” Heath wrote in the post.
“Looking forward to building on Kite’s legacy and leadership in this dynamic space!” he continued, adding the hashtag “#KiteProud.”
He’s taking on a role recently vacated by Warner Biddle, who left Kite last fall to become CEO of CAR-T competitor Kyverna Therapeutics.
Heath arrives at Kite with more than two decades of experience in biopharma. His career has included stops at Eli Lilly, Novian Health and, for the last 16 years, Amgen. His tenure at Amgen included roles in sales and marketing for many of its hematology and oncology therapeutics as well as more than two years spent leading Amgen’s Canadian operations; he closed out his time at the company as VP and general manager of the U.S. oncology business unit.
In a statement sent to Fierce Pharma Marketing, Cindy Perettie, executive VP and global head of Kite, welcomed Heath to his new role, adding, “Brian is an accomplished industry professional with a strong background in hematology and oncology, and he is ideally suited to lead the Commercial team and fortify our global cell therapy leadership position within blood cancers and beyond. I am looking forward to what we will achieve for patients together!”
Heath’s hire comes amid a period of relatively flat sales for Gilead’s cell therapy unit. According to its most recent earnings report, total cell therapy sales clocked in at $485 million for the third quarter of 2024, down from $486 million during the same period a year before, as blood cancer treatment Yescarta registered a 1% year-over-year drop in sales and its counterpart Tecartus gained just 2%.
At the time, Gilead linked the stagnation to “increased in- and out-of-class competition” in the U.S., where Kite’s offerings are vying against Bristol Myers Squibb’s rival CD19 CAR-T therapy Breyanzi, among others.
Despite those headwinds, in an accompanying earnings call, Perettie maintained confidence in Kite’s ongoing strategy, saying, “I think in the oncology space, when new therapies get approved in new indications, it’s very common for physicians to try out the new therapies. … We’re continuing to focus on driving both our class share and our brand share and feel very confident in the plans that we have to date to continue our expansion into the community and elsewhere.”