Sunbird Bio names industry vet, Richard Batrla, as CMO

Cambridge, USA-based biotech Sunbird Bio, which is developing proprietary blood-based technologies to improve diagnosis and treatment of neurological disorders and early-stage cancer, today announced the appointment of DR Richard Batrla, as chief medical officer.

Dr Batrla brings 30 years of experience to Sunbird Bio, and most recently served as the vice president and head of US medical affairs, and prior as global executive director for Alzheimer’s disease, at Eisai (TYO: 4523), where he led the medical launch of Leqembi (lecanemab) in the USA and prepared for launches internationally.

Prior to Eisai, Dr Batrla was the global medical director for Novartis’ (NOVN: VX) neuroscience pipeline, responsible for the medical development of a number of investigational candidates for neurological disorders including Huntington’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and spinal muscular atrophy. Additionally, Dr Batrla spent more than 15 years at Roche (ROG: SIX), where he held varying roles of increasing responsibility in global medical and scientific affairs and, most notably, established and grew its neurological diagnostics clinical program and pipeline.