Ed Silverman’s Pharmalot column published on Aug. 21, 2026, reports a personnel move in the biotech sector: Spruce Biosciences has hired Adrian Quartel as its new chief medical officer. The accessible portion of the item states the appointment and identifies Quartel’s prior role but does not include further operational or contractual details in the public excerpt.
The article notes that Adrian Quartel previously held the position of chief medical officer at Zevra Therapeutics. No additional biographical information, dates of service, or details about Quartel’s responsibilities at Zevra or at Spruce were provided in the excerpt available from the source. Any further career history, academic credentials, or statements from Quartel were not reported in the accessible portion of the article.
Spruce Biosciences is identified as the company that made the hire; the source does not report further information about the company’s therapeutic focus, pipeline programs, strategic rationale for the appointment, or an official comment from Spruce within the public excerpt. Readers seeking more information about Spruce’s business or how Quartel is expected to fit into its leadership team would need access to the full STAT+ article or direct company communications, neither of which are included in the portion of the source provided here.
Pharmalot’s recurring feature highlights executive moves across the life sciences and pharmaceutical industries and invites submissions. The column explicitly encourages organizations and individuals to send news of hires, promotions, and filled roles so that Pharmalot can share those updates with its audience. The tone of the entry is invitational, noting: “Hired someone new and exciting? Promoted a rising star? Finally solved that hard-to-fill spot? Share the news with us, and we’ll share it with others.”
The item also indicates that the column routinely spotlights a different person each week. In this installment, Adrian Quartel is the highlighted individual. Beyond this encouragement to submit items, the public excerpt does not include submission instructions, contact details beyond the author’s email, or a formal editorial policy for the comings-and-goings feature.
This Pharmalot entry is authored by Ed Silverman, identified as a Pharmalot columnist and senior writer for STAT. The article displays Silverman’s contact email (ed.silverman@statnews.com) and notes his journalistic focus on prescription drug pricing, affordability, access, patents, litigation, and legislation. The published date on the item is Aug. 21, 2026.
The piece is flagged as a STAT+ exclusive, indicating that the full story and additional details are behind STAT’s subscription paywall. The publicly visible excerpt provides only a brief notice of the appointment and general contextual material about the column. The source therefore did not report other specifics such as Quartel’s start date, terms of employment, reporting structure, or quotes from the executive or company. Readers who require those particulars will need to consult the full STAT+ article or official Spruce Biosciences communications.
Within the source, the item is associated with topical tags including biotechnology, jobs, and pharmaceuticals, situating the hire within the broader industry coverage of Pharmalot. The column is presented alongside other Pharmalot and STAT+ content and appears as part of a regular stream of industry updates and newsletters produced by the outlet.
The publicly available portion of the source is concise and contains limited factual detail: it confirms the appointment of Adrian Quartel as chief medical officer at Spruce Biosciences and that Quartel previously served as CMO at Zevra Therapeutics. The source did not report further information about the hire, such as the date Quartel assumed the role, specific responsibilities at Spruce, compensation or contract terms, or comments from the company or the executive. Those details were not present in the excerpt and therefore are not asserted here.
Pharmalot reports that Adrian Quartel has been named chief medical officer at Spruce Biosciences and that he previously served as chief medical officer at Zevra Therapeutics. The accessible portion of the STAT piece is brief and behind a STAT+ paywall, and the source did not provide additional operational or biographical details in the excerpt.