As the countdown to the launch of its first therapeutic continues, Rocket Pharmaceuticals is fueling up its commercial team.
The biotech on Monday appointed Sarbani Chaudhuri as its new chief commercial and medical affairs officer, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Chaudhuri comes to Rocket from Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine, where she served at the VP level as head of hematology in the global commercial strategy organization. Throughout her three years there, she helped build out the business that includes multiple myeloma blockbuster Darzalex and rising star CAR-T therapy Carvykti, among others.
Chaudhuri spent nearly 20 years at several other Big Pharmas before joining J&J. At AstraZeneca, she was the global head of the breast cancer business unit and the Enhertu franchise, and in her six years at Pfizer, she held a handful of leadership roles across segments within the oncology and rare disease portfolios. Prior to that, she spent almost a decade on Novartis’ sales and marketing team, culminating in a stint leading the evolution of the U.S. oncology customer model.
In a LinkedIn post last week, Chaudhuri shared several photos to commemorate her “incredible journey at Johnson & Johnson” and to celebrate her colleagues and their shared accomplishments.
“I am incredibly proud of what we achieved together,” she wrote, adding, “At the end of the day, success is about more than just the science—it’s about the people who make innovation possible. I will carry forward the experiences, leadership lessons, and deep sense of purpose that I have gained here as I step into my next chapter.”
Chaudhuri is joining Rocket as it inches closer to a potential U.S. approval for Kresladi, a gene therapy to treat severe leukocyte adhesion deficiency-I.
Rocket initially submitted the therapeutic to the FDA for review in late 2023, with a decision expected the following spring. The agency pushed back that deadline to June 2024, around which time it sent a complete response letter (CRL) asking for additional information about Kresladi’s manufacturing.
In its full-year earnings release in February, Rocket confirmed that the FDA is now reviewing that supplemental info and that the company is expecting to be able to submit a full biologics license application (BLA) for Kresladi to resolve the CRL this year.
Meanwhile, Rocket is also advancing its RP-L102, aimed at treating the rare genetic disorder Fanconi anemia. Rocket said in the February release that the gene therapy is currently under review in Europe and that it has initiated a rolling BLA with the FDA for RP-L102, with the final submission slated for sometime this year.