Illumina names former NIH official as medical chief; commercial chief joins Quanterix

Illumina (ILMN) shares fell on Friday after its chief commercial officer, Everett Cunningham, resigned to lead the rival life sciences company Quanterix (QTRX), while former NIH genomics director Eric Green joined its C-suite as chief medical officer.  

In a press release late Thursday, the San Diego, California-based gene sequencing company announced that Green, who has led the National Human Genome Research Institute at NIH for more than a decade, will assume his new role effective Feb. 2.

"Eric is a once-in-a-generation leader in genomics whose career has closely tracked the evolution of the field itself," said CEO Jacob Thaysen, who is scheduled to present at this year’s J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference on Jan. 13.

Meanwhile, Quanterix (QTRX) announced that Cunningham, who has served as Illumina's (ILMN) commercial chief since June 2024, will become its President and CEO and a member of the Board, effective Jan. 16.

He will replace Masoud Toloue, who has led the Billerica, Massachusetts-based company for more than five years. Quanterix (QTRX) shares surged in reaction as the company concurrently announced that it will exceed its revenue and cash guidance for 2025.