Changing Faces: Pharma and biotech hires, August 2026

August brought another wave of leadership changes across biotech, pharma, and research organisations, with companies appointing executives to steer everything from AI strategy and drug development to finance, operations, and medical affairs.

Here are the latest moves from across the life sciences industry.

BioNTech poaches Sobi chief for corner office. German mRNA vaccine company BioNTech, best known for partnering with Pfizer on the first approved COVID-19 vaccine, turned to Guido Oelkers as its next CEO. Oelkers stepped down as chief executive of Swedish biopharma group Sobi to take the helm at BioNTech. Sobi said he would remain in his current role until the end of January while the company searches for a successor.

Homegrown talent wins J&J's top pharma role. Johnson & Johnson promoted Tom Cavanaugh to global pharma chair, choosing an internal candidate to lead the division. He steps in for Jennifer Taubert after her retirement. Cavanaugh had served as group chairman, North America, for Innovative Medicines since 2023. Prior to joining J&J, he spent nearly 15 years at Celgene in a series of increasingly senior positions before moving on ahead of its acquisition by Bristol Myers Squibb.

Pfizer bets on AI with scholar appointment. Computational biology expert and serial entrepreneur Eric Schadt left his position as chief scientist at Pathos AI to launch a new stealth venture and take on a newly created role at Pfizer as the company's first AI Scholar. According to Pfizer, Schadt will “work closely with our teams to help shape our AI strategy and build proprietary models”.

Terremoto hands reins to internal scientific leader. Terremoto Biosciences has elevated James Christensen to the position of CEO. Christensen had been serving as president and head of research and development at the San Francisco company, which focuses on targeted small-molecule drug discovery and development. He succeeds Dr Charles Baum, who has transitioned to executive chairman.

New chief executive and CSO join Mirai's next phase. Mirai Bio, a Flagship spinout that serves as an innovation delivery partner for companies developing next-generation nucleic acid medicines, made two key leadership appointments as it continues to build out its executive team.

• Kate Torchilin joined as CEO and president, bringing extensive life sciences leadership experience. She previously served as CEO of Hamilton Thorne, where she helped grow the company from $70 million to $200 million in revenue.
• The company also appointed Jagesh Shah as chief scientific officer. Shah has been a scientific leader at Mirai since 2024 and brings expertise in quantitative biology and in vivo delivery from previous roles at Sana Biotechnology, Harvard Medical School, and Brigham and Women's Hospital.

City Therapeutics doubles up on senior leadership hires. Next-gen RNA interference therapeutics specialist City Therapeutics strengthened its leadership ranks with appointments in finance and legal affairs.

• Keith Regnante joined as chief financial officer, bringing more than 25 years of public biopharmaceutical finance experience, including CFO roles at Keros Therapeutics and Wave Life Sciences.
• The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company also recruited Mary Beth DeLena as chief legal officer. She comes from Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, where she spent more than 15 years and most recently held the role of senior vice president, deputy general counsel, and assistant secretary. During her tenure, Alnylam advanced five RNAi therapeutics toward FDA approval.

BeOne adds international oncology expertise. Global oncology company BeOne Medicines appointed Dr Kandeepan Ganeshalingam as vice president and head of medical affairs for Europe. Most recently, he led oncology medical activities across Pfizer's international markets, including China and Japan. Before joining Pfizer, he served as vice president and head of international medical affairs at Seagen.

Acelot brings in biotech development veteran. Acelot appointed Dr Mark Forman as both chief development officer and chief medical officer. Forman brings extensive drug development experience from previous chief medical officer positions at Ventyx Biosciences and Passage Bio, where he advanced R&D programmes targeting inflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases. The California biotech is focused on developing small-molecule therapies against challenging disease targets.

Erasca recruits renowned oncologist to oversee R&D. Clinical-stage precision oncology company Erasca selected Charlie Fuchs as president of research and development. Before moving into industry, Fuchs served as director of the Yale Cancer Center and physician-in-chief at Smilow Cancer Hospital, where he helped launch several biotechnology companies. Erasca is focused on therapies for cancers driven by the RAS/MAPK pathway.

Tech leadership boost for bit.bio. Human cell programming company bit.bio appointed Sejla Salic-Hainzl as chief technology officer, a newly created role within the organisation. She steps into the position after nearly six years leading R&D at bit.bio Discovery, where she built the company's functional genomics capabilities, which are already being used by several major pharmaceutical companies.

Entera Bio secures experienced R&D hand for CMO role. Entera Bio named Dr Riccardo Paolo Camisasca as chief medical officer. A physician, clinical pharmacologist, and pharmaceutical executive with more than 30 years’ experience, Camisasca most recently served as global head of research and development at Sumitomo Pharma Switzerland. Tel Aviv-based Entera develops oral peptide and protein replacement therapies.

Business development specialist heads to Lytix. Oslo-based clinical-stage biotechnology company Lytix Biopharma appointed Timothy Herpin as chief business officer. Before joining the company, Herpin founded Anza Advisors, where he provided fractional chief business officer services to biotech firms. Earlier, he served as chief business officer at Santa Ana Bio. Lytix is developing a highly differentiated oncolytic molecule platform.

QBI appoints former vaccine initiative CEO as COO. The Quantitative Biosciences Institute (QBI) appointed Brad Schneider as chief operating officer. Schneider joined from Vaccines for Communities, a global biotechnology research initiative developing a new generation of paediatric mRNA vaccines targeting dengue fever, where he had served as CEO. QBI is a University of California research unit that operates through the UCSF School of Pharmacy.

That’s it for our August life sciences hires, 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.