Christine Cassiano, head of healthcare for W20 Group, has shifted in-house to Kite Pharma, a publicly traded Santa Monica-based biopharmaceutical company focused on treating cancer.
Cassiano takes the role of VP of corporate communications and IR, a new position at Kite. President and CEO Arie Belldegrun said in a statement that the company is at an "inflection point" as it moves toward a "commercial organization."
The company received a big boost last month on solid Phase II results for its Non-Hodgkin lymphoma treatment.
Cassiano joined W20 when it acquired her then-three-year-old firm, ARC2 Communications and Media, which she founded with a former Hill+Knowlton colleague, Andrea Rothschild. W20 brought back Emily Poe last month to head its healthcare practice.
Cassiano held corporate posts at Amgen and Allergen and worked IR for Tickets.com.
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