Amgen’s Chief Technology Officer Dr David Reese to retire

Amgen’s 21-year veteran, Dr David Reese, is retiring as its Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer on 30 June.

To support this change, from 1 June, Dr James Bradner will serve as Executive Vice President, Research and Development, Artificial Intelligence and Data. Additionally, Sean Bruich will become Amgen’s Senior Vice President, Chief Technology Officer. At present, he is the firm’s SVP, Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Data.

Amgen intends that the restructure will improve convergence of biology, data science, and advanced technologies to accelerate its own medicine development.

In his most recent post as Chief Technology Officer, Dr Reese encouraged the early adoption of technology and AI, particularly in R&D, Amgen noted.

The company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Robert Bradway, said: “Dave recognised early the impact that advances in biology and technology would have on our industry and helped lead Amgen through that shift. The capabilities he built position us to advance what we call convergent innovation and strengthen our ability to serve patients in the years ahead.”

Having joined the firm in 2005, Dr Reese initially led Amgen’s clinical development in oncology before later working as Executive Vice President of research and Development (R&D) between 2018 and 2023.

In January, the firm expanded its oncology pipeline through a $840 million deal with Dark Blue Therapeutics. This gave Amgen access to potential first-in-class treatments for acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). Pre-clinical data suggest that small molecule-targeted protein degraders could work as single-agent as well as combination therapies.

Dr Bradner said at the time: “Acute myeloid leukaemia remains one of the most difficult cancers to treat, and we see an urgent need for new mechanisms capable of changing the trajectory of this disease.”