Kyverna Therapeutics Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing cell therapies for patients suffering from autoimmune diseases, has appointed Warner Biddle as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and a member of its Board of Directors, succeeding Peter Maag, Ph.D., who has resigned from his role as CEO and a member of the Board, effective immediately.
 
Kyverna also appointed Christi Shaw to its Board of Directors. Shaw succeeds Brian Kotzin, M.D., who has decided to step down from the Board of Directors.

About Warner Biddle

Biddle is a seasoned pharmaceutical executive, with over 30 years of global experience in senior commercial and franchise leadership roles across various products, disease areas and geographies.
 
Most recently, Biddle served as Senior Vice President, Global Head of Commercial at Kite Pharma (a Gilead Company). In this role, he led multiple product launches and market-building initiatives, driving growth for Yescarta and Tecartus. In addition, in 2023, Biddle was selected by the Gilead Chairman and CEO to act as interim Head of Kite (CEO), during which time he led Kite’s research, development, medical affairs, technical operations, corporate development and G&A functions.
 
Prior to joining Kite in 2020, Biddle spent a decade at Genentech, where he led the Breast/Gynecology, Skin Cancer and Ophthalmology franchises through multiple launches and line extensions for both large and smaller products including Kadcyla, Tecentriq, Erivedge and Lucentis. Earlier, Biddle held senior commercial and franchise leadership roles at Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) working in Canada, the United Kingdom and Switzerland.
 
Biddle holds an Honors Degree in Commerce from the University of Saskatchewan, with a specialization in Marketing and Statistics.
 
“I am excited to join the company at this pivotal stage in its growth and to build on the strong foundation already in place at Kyverna,” said Biddle. “I have seen firsthand the transformative impact of CAR T therapeutics on patients’ lives and am eager to work alongside this team to extend the reach of CAR T therapies to many more patients and bring them the innovations they are waiting for.”

About Christi Shaw

Shaw has spent more than 30 years in executive leadership roles across the industry’s largest pharmaceutical companies and a broad range of therapeutic areas.
 
Most recently, Shaw served as the Chief Executive Officer of Kite. Earlier, she served as Senior Vice President of Eli Lilly Company and President of Lilly Bio-Medicines, the business within Eli Lilly Company that comprises neuroscience and immunology.
 
Previously, Shaw was an executive at Novartis Pharmaceutical Corporation, including as U.S. country head and President of Novartis Pharmaceutical Corporation and as North American region head of Novartis Oncology, and earlier held leadership roles of increasing responsibility at Johnson & Johnson, Inc.
 
Shaw currently serves on the board of directors of Avantor, Beam Therapeutics and ReAlta Lifesciences, and is an advisor to Cellares and the Iowa State Ivy College of Business. In addition, she is the co-founder of the More Moments More Memories Foundation to assist people with cancer and their caregivers.
 
Shaw holds an M.B.A. from the University of Wisconsin and a B.B.A. in Marketing from Iowa State University.