Biodesix CEO to step down next year

BOULDER — Biodesix Inc. CEO David Brunel will step down from his post in January to make way for the company’s current chief operating officer.

According to a statement from the Boulder lung cancer testing company, COO Scott Hutton is due to take the company’s top role on Jan. 1, 2020. Brunel will remain with Biodesix as its board chairman, while current chairman and company co-founder Robert Cawthorn will remain on the board in a reduced capacity.

Hutton joined Biodesix in May 2018 from Colorado Springs-based Spectranetics Corp., where he was a senior vice president and “recruited and hired to be the CEO-in-waiting,” according to his LinkedIn profile.

SPONSORED CONTENT

Prioritizing mental health in hospice care

Prioritizing mental health support alongside physical comfort, Pathways hospice care aims to enhance the quality of life for patients and their families during one of life's most challenging transitions.

Brunel was a co-founder of the company back in 2005 and has been CEO for almost all of its existence.

In a phone interview with BizWest, Brunel said Hutton was hired with the understanding that he would become CEO within 18 to 24 months of joining the company. January would be Hutton’s 21st month with Biodesix.

“We just realize that it’s great to bring in different leadership at different points of time that bring different things to the table,” he said.

Biodesix primarily makes rapid-screen tests for lung cancer. It has raised more than $182 million in funding over its lifespan, according to Crunchbase, and recently closed its acquisition of British cancer testing firm Onciumminune Ltd. It also acquired Seattle firm Integrated Diagnostics last summer.

Hutton said the company is going to stop looking at outside acquisitions and focus on bringing products currently in its clinical pipeline to market, a strategy that’s been the works since he started.

“We have plans in the pipeline to expand that (product offering) by two or three additional products in the next two to three years,” he said. That also includes Oncimmune’s products, which is due to introduction to the U.S. market after being exclusively sold in the UK.

When asked if the future includes an initial public offering or some other fundraising tool that would drastically alter Biodesix’s ownership structure, Brunel said the company is actively considering all of its available options while focusing on its product pipeline.

“But that doesn’t mean we would ignore an acquisition if it showed up on our doorstep, or if there was a consolidation with another company that makes complete sense,” he said.