Jackie Fouse is stepping down as CEO of Agios Pharmaceuticals, replaced by Brian Goff, a former executive with Alexion Pharmaceuticals, the company announced Tuesday. Fouse will remain with Agios as its new board chairperson.
Agios is framing the management reshuffle as the latest in a series of deliberate, strategic decisions to bolster the company’s future by pivoting toward the development of drugs for genetically-defined diseases. But investors, already wary of some of the company’s recent moves, may interpret Fouse’s decision to vacate the CEO post as another sign Agios’s plan is not working.