Eyeing deals, Biogen names Keeney head of corporate development

As Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB) prepares to strike strategic deals that will further build its pipeline, the company has named Adam Keeney head of corporate development. The veteran of dealmaking at Sanofi (Euronext:SAN; NASDAQ:SNY) and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) had most recently spent four years as CEO of inflammasome company NodThera Ltd.

Biogen CEO Chris Viehbacher was at Sanofi until fall 2014, overlapping with Keeney’s tenure for several months; Keeney was at that pharma from January 2014 until September 2018, when he joined NodThera. Viehbacher, who guided Sanofi through its purchase of Genzyme Corp. in 2011, said in January that there “wasn’t a lot of point hiring me if you don’t want to go do deals.”...