Changing Faces: Pharma and biotech, January 2026

R&D
Dr Harald Hampel

The new year brought a slew of new faces in the pharma and biotech world, especially in the top jobs, with a number of CEO changes at biotech firms.

Read on for the first Changing Faces of 2026.

Bristol Myers Squibb strengthens neuroscience leadership. Harald Hampel has stepped into the role of senior vice president and worldwide head of medical affairs, neuroscience at Bristol Myers Squibb. A heavyweight in the field, Hampel holds 12 patents in diagnostics and biomarkers for psychiatric, neurodegenerative, and neuroinflammatory disorders and has more than 900 peer‑reviewed publications to his name.

Sanofi appoints new UK & Ireland country lead. Sanofi, the French global biotech focused on vaccines and immunology, has named Ahmed Moussa as its UK & Ireland country lead. An internal hire, Moussa’s nearly 18‑year tenure at the company includes spearheading global omnichannel transformation and contributing to a wide range of commercial roles across the Greater Gulf region.

Executive shuffle at Angelini. The current CEO of Angelini Industries, Sergio Marullo di Condojanni, has now assumed the CEO role at Angelini Pharma as well. Jacopo Andreose, who led the Italian company specialising in brain health until the end of 2025 will become a member of the Angelini Holdings Board and a senior advisor to the Angelini Pharma Board. Angelini Pharma also welcomed Roberto Scrivo as chief of external affairs, communication and sustainability officer. Joining from the Engineering Group, he brings more than 25 years of cross‑functional experience across public and private sectors.

Ipsen elevates technical operations leadership. Ipsen, the global biopharmaceutical company focused on oncology, rare disease, and neuroscience, appointed Pierrick Lefranc as EVP technical operations. This is a promotion for Lefranc, who since 2019 has served as senior vice president overseeing global manufacturing activities, engineering, and enterprise activities.

BioIndustry Association names new CEO. The BioIndustry Association, the UK’s leading industry group supporting biotech, selected Chris Molloy as its new CEO. The current CEO of the Medicines Discovery Catapult (MDC), he is also a trustee of the Institute of Cancer Research and chairs the industry advisory Boards for the Greater Manchester Biomedical Research Centre and Health Innovation Manchester.

Six biotechs bring in new leadership. The new year brought new CEOs for a number of smaller biotech companies.

  • London‑based LIfT Biosciences, a preclinical biotech developing allogeneic cell therapy, appointed Bo Rode Hanson as CEO. With more than 20 years of leadership experience at companies such as Roche, Genevant and Santaris, he succeeds founder Alex Blyth in the role. Blyth transitions to a Board Director role.
  • Reykjavik‑based biosimilars specialist Alvotech has named Lisa Graver as its next CEO. Founder Robert Wessman plans to step down at the end of March 2026, remaining as executive chairman. Graver had previously served as CEO of Alvogen until its acquisition by Lotus Pharmaceutical in December 2025 and has been a member of Alvotech’s Board since its public listing in 2022.
  • UK synthetic biology company NanoSyrinx, which develops nanosyringes for targeted intracellular delivery of biologic therapeutics, appointed Thomas J Farrell as CEO. Farrell founded and led two NASDAQ‑listed companies, Oricell Therapeutics and Artiva Biotherapeutics, and has raised more than $500 million across private investors, strategic partners, and public markets.
  • San Diego‑based iXCells Biotechnology, focused on generating predictive human disease models, selected Steve Smith as CEO. His background includes leadership roles at Thermo Fisher, Abcam, and, most recently, seqWell, a provider of genomic library and multiplexing workflow solutions.
  • Nevada‑based Zura Bio, a clinical‑stage immunology company developing dual‑pathway antibodies for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, appointed Dr Sandeep Kulkarni as CEO. Most recently he co‑founded and led Tourmaline Bio, guiding it through its acquisition by Novartis in October 2025.
  • Swiss biotech TECregen, which uses a novel thymus rejuvenation technique to address conditions driven by impaired T‑cell responses, named Klaas P. Zuideveld as CEO. With more than 20 years of experience across large pharmaceutical companies and biotech, he has contributed to multiple IND clearances and global product approvals.

Three new chief medical officers bring oncology expertise. Clinical leadership was another area which saw a lot of movement in January, particularly in the cancer care space.

  • Tubulis, the Munich and Cambridge, MA‑based innovator in antibody‑drug conjugates, appointed Dr Charles Fuchs as chief medical officer. With more than three decades of experience, he most recently served as senior vice president and global head of oncology & haematology product development at Roche and Genentech.
  • Syncromune, a clinical‑stage biopharmaceutical company developing an in situ platform combination immunotherapy for solid tumours, appointed Stephen P Dale as chief medical officer. He previously served as head of R&D and CMO at Kura Oncology and held senior oncology R&D and clinical leadership roles at Kyowa Kirin and AstraZeneca.
  • UK‑based Enara Bio, which develops bispecific T‑cell engagers for solid tumours, welcomed Dr Scott Drutman as chief medical officer. He joins from Volastra Therapeutics, where he had been CMO and head of R&D. Earlier in his career, he worked in oncology clinical development at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals across multiple assets and tumour types.

Biotechs expand business leadership. Several companies also announced new commercial, business, and finance executives.

  • ViroMissile, a cancer immunotherapy company developing a systemically delivered oncolytic virus, named Michael G Wood as chief business officer. He was the founder of OncoMyx Therapeutics, where he also served as COO and CFO and raised $75 million in Series A and B financing.
  • Canadian biotech VoxCell, which develops high‑resolution, vascularised 3D tissue models, appointed Graham Craig as chief commercial officer. He joins from AbCellera and brings more than 18 years of experience in commercialisation and strategic partnerships across the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors.
  • Chrystalys Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company addressing unmet needs in gout, named Justin Thacker as chief financial officer. With more than 25 years of finance leadership experience, mostly in the life sciences, he has played key roles in multiple IPOs, financings, product launches, and M&A transactions.
  • Atsena Therapeutics, a North Carolina clinical‑stage gene therapy company developing treatments for inherited retinal diseases, appointed McDavid Stilwell as CFO. He previously served as CFO at CPTx and at Coherus Oncology, where he led financial operations during multiple US product launches.

Kardigan appoints chief strategy officer. Kardigan, a patient‑driven heart health company modernising cardiovascular drug development, named Andy Pasternak as chief strategy officer. He previously served as executive vice president and chief strategy officer at Horizon Therapeutics and had been a senior partner at Bain & Company.

That’s it for our pharma and biotech 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.