Changing Faces: Pharma and biotech, April 2026

May is almost over, but we still owe you biotech hires news from the month of April, in which we didn’t see too much activity at the big pharmas, but saw plenty of executive movement at small and midsized biotechs.

Read on for the highlights.

New CEO takes helm at Cue. Cue Biopharma appointed Dr Shao‑Lee Lin as chief executive officer. An immunology‑focused physician‑scientist and seasoned biopharmaceutical executive, Dr Lin brings more than 25 years of leadership experience to the Boston‑based clinical‑stage biopharma, which is developing novel T-cell biologics. Her career has been marked by scaling companies from inception to IPO and building multi‑billion‑dollar therapeutic portfolios, including her role as founder and CEO of ACELYRIN.

Orano Med taps experienced leader. At Orano Med, Frederic Desdouits was named CEO. Desdouits previously served as CEO of TreeFrog Therapeutics, a French biotech specialising in stem cell‑based therapies. Earlier, he led pharmaceutical activities at Seqens, a global leader in specialty ingredient manufacturing, and oversaw business development and US pharmaceutical operations at Pierre Fabre. Orano Med is a clinical‑stage biotechnology company developing novel targeted cancer therapies.

Paratus Sciences builds out its executive and clinical leadership. Paratus Sciences, a Boston‑ and Singapore‑based biotech integrating evolutionary biology, AI‑powered discovery, and deep multi-omic data for drug discovery, made several appointments.

• Alicia Secor stepped up as president and CEO. Secor most recently held the same roles at Atalanta Therapeutics and previously served as President and CEO of Juniper Pharmaceuticals until its acquisition by Catalent.
• The company also strengthened its clinical leadership with the appointment of Ganesh Mugundu as iVP and head of clinical development. Mugundu most recently served as VP and head of early clinical development at Astria Therapeutics, where he led scientific strategy and execution across immunologic and allergic disease programmes and was a member of the senior leadership team. His earlier career has included leadership roles at Takeda, AstraZeneca, and Pfizer.
• Completing the trio of senior appointments, Paratus named Jeffrey Young as CFO. Young previously served as CFO at Atalanta Therapeutics, where he played an instrumental role in the company’s $97 million Series B financing.

LEO Pharma strengthens UK leadership. Danish dermatology specialist LEO Pharma appointed Matt Ferriday as general manager for the UK. Ferriday joined from Ipsen Biopharma, where he held senior leadership roles spanning rare diseases and neuroscience.

Finance chiefs step into key biopharma and biotech roles. A handful of organisations named new CFOs in April.

• Halozyme appointed Darren Snellgrove as chief financial officer. Snellgrove most recently led investor relations at Johnson & Johnson and previously served as CFO of J&J’s pharmaceutical business. Halozyme is advancing disruptive solutions aimed at improving patient experiences and outcomes for emerging and established therapies.
• At MinervaX, Hans Henrik Chrois Christensen was appointed CFO. Christensen brought more than two decades of financial leadership experience across private and public life sciences companies, including responsibility for financing strategies, M&A transactions, and organisational scale‑up. MinervaX is developing a prophylactic vaccine against Group B Streptococcus based on research from Lund University.
• Boston‑based Strand Therapeutics named Kunal Bhatia into the top finance role. Bhatia joined the programmable mRNA therapy company with a 15‑year background in investment banking, having advised more than 100 public and private biopharmaceutical companies on financing and business development.

Biotechs add scientific, medical leaders. April saw a smattering of chief medical officers and chief scientific officers appointed at biotechs working on novel therapies.

• Asgard Therapeutics appointed Dr Wolfram Brugger as CMO. Brugger joined from NASDAQ‑listed Autolus Therapeutics, where he led the global clinical development programme for AUTO1, an autologous CD19 CAR-T therapy. Asgard is a privately held Swedish biotech pioneering in vivo direct cell reprogramming for cancer immunotherapy.
• At Immunic, a late‑stage biotech developing novel oral therapies for neurologic diseases, Dr Michael Panzara was named chief medical officer. Panzara brings more than 25 years of experience advancing blockbuster multiple sclerosis therapies, guiding drugs from late‑stage development through global regulatory approvals.
• Richard Sainson joined Laigo Bio, early‑stage biotech based in the Netherlands as chief scientific officer, bringing more than 25 years of experience in oncology and immunology translational science and drug discovery.
• Enodia Therapeutics named Dr Yvonne McGrath to the CSO post. Prior to joining Enodia, McGrath served as CSO of iTeos Therapeutics, where she led discovery scientists and provided translational leadership to advance immuno‑oncology therapies into clinical development. Enodia is focused on developing small‑molecule therapies that enable degradation of disease‑driving proteins at the point of synthesis.
• UK‑based gene therapy firm EpilepsyGTx appointed Dimitri Kullman as chief scientific officer. Kullman is an internationally recognised leader in neuroscience with more than three decades of pioneering research into synaptic function; his work underpinned the creation of the company in 2021.

Two pharmas tap big pharma vets for medical affairs leadership. Madrigal Pharmaceuticals appointed Dr Ricardo Rocha as EVP and global head of medical affairs. Rocha joined from Intellia Therapeutics and previously spent nearly 20 years at Novartis in leadership roles of increasing responsibility. Madrigal is focused on delivering novel therapeutics for metabolic dysfunction‑associated steatohepatitis (MASH). Meanwhile, Helus Pharma, a clinical‑stage pharma company developing novel serotonergic agonists, named Ken Kramer as SVP medical affairs. At Karuna Therapeutics, Kramer served as VP and head of medical affairs, building medical capabilities during a period of significant organisational growth and supporting the company through its acquisition. Earlier, he spent more than a decade leading US psychiatry medical affairs teams at AbbVie and predecessor organisations.

Stockholm biotech adds project manager. Pharmability, a Stockholm‑based biotech developing next‑generation treatments for autoimmune skin diseases, appointed Agneta Wennerholm as consulting clinical project manager. Wennerholm brings more than 25 years of experience across pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and clinical CROs, spanning a broad range of therapeutic areas.

European biotechs add development pros. MinervaX further expanded its leadership team with the appointment of Jamila Louahed as chief development officer. Louahed joined from GSK, where she held a senior leadership role in vaccine research and development. And at clinical-stage retinal gene therapy company AAVantgarde, Philip Lao came aboard as VP business development. Lao previously served as head of BD at Adverum Biotechnologies, where he led the company’s sale to Eli Lilly in December 2025. His career before that included extensive M&A and strategic licensing experience at Novartis, Pfizer, and Takeda.

Legal and operational leadership strengthened at Structure Therapeutics. Structure Therapeutics appointed Matthew Lang as general counsel and chief operating officer. Lang most recently served as chief legal officer and secretary at Metsera, helping to guide the company through its $10 billion acquisition by Pfizer. Structure Therapeutics is a clinical‑stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative oral small‑molecule treatments for chronic metabolic conditions with significant unmet need.

That’s it for our pharma and biotech hires this month, but stay tuned for our other hires round-ups and remember, you can send your own hires to editorial@pharmaphorum.com for inclusion in this column.