Joe Arron and Mark Eisner worked together for about a decade at Genentech, with broad remits but a shared passion for interstitial lung disease. They’d go their separate ways a few years ago — Arron to 23andMe as chief scientific officer of its therapeutics push and Eisner to FibroGen, where he led the medical operations.
Then, Regeneron-partnered Sonoma Biotherapeutics came calling. When the two got word they were both looking to join the cell therapy biotech, Arron and Eisner met at Philz Coffee in Burlingame, CA. For Arron, the meeting sealed the deal — he couldn’t pass up the role if that meant working with an enthusiastic Eisner again. Arron had already been on Sonoma’s scientific advisory board, and now it was time to swap roles with science chief and co-founder Fred Ramsdell, who is retiring.
Eisner and Arron moved into the chief medical and scientific posts, respectively, on Monday after taking a few weeks to decompress from their previous jobs.