Orbis Medicines: A new CEO, with its co-founder staying on. Joanne Smith-Farrell has succeeded co-founder Morten Graugaard as CEO of the Copenhagen-based company. Graugaard becomes chief business officer, focusing on partnerships. Smith-Farrell takes over as Orbis advances its own oral macrocycle programs in immunology and inflammation after having secured a €90 million Series A last year and a Novo Nordisk collaboration in 2026. She previously led Be Biopharma through its move from a platform-focused company to one with clinical-stage programs. Before that, she was Chief Operating Officer and Head of the Oncology Business Unit at bluebird bio and held senior business development roles at Merck, Pfizer, and Gene Logic, and worked in Boston Consulting Group’s healthcare practice.
AlzeCure Pharma: CSO steps in as CEO. Previous CEO Martin Jönsson has left after nearly seven years leading the Swedish biotech. Co-founder and chief scientific officer Johan Sandin took over the role and became acting CEO on October 27, while head of discovery Pontus Forsell was named deputy CEO. The board linked the change to AlzeCure’s next phase: managing recent licensing agreements with Lilly and QuantumCell while advancing its pain programs. The company has begun searching for a permanent CEO.
Simris Group: Another Heidelberg Pharma veteran joins as CMO. András Strassz, formerly Heidelberg Pharma’s chief medical officer, is now CMO at Simris. He worked on Heidelberg Pharma’s amanitin-based antibody-drug conjugates, including its lead candidate, HDP-101. His appointment follows Simris’s pivot to amanitin-based ADCs under another former Heidelberg Pharma executive, Andreas Pahl. Heidelberg Pharma told European Biotechnology in September that Simris had approached it about a technology license; no agreement had been announced at that point. Prior to Heidelberg Pharma, Strassz held clinical development roles at Janssen Cilag, Amgen and Sandoz, before moving into specialist oncology biotechnology as Medical Director at Affimed, another Heidelberg-based company that has since gone bankrupt.
Cantargia: new leader takes charge of cancer clinical development. The Swedish biotech appointed Stuart chief medical officer, effective immediately. She will lead development of nadunolimab in blood cancers and solid tumors, including myelodysplastic syndrome, acute myeloid leukemia and pancreatic cancer. Stuart previously held development roles at Genentech and Geron Corporation. She also served as Interim Chief Medical Officer or Head of Clinical Development for multiple biotechnology companies, including Acerta Pharma and Revolution Medicines.
Oncoinvent: A CMO hire ahead of Phase 3 planning. Zuzana Jiráková Trnková will become chief medical officer on November 4, succeeding Kari Myren. Her work at Bayer included radium-223 and other radiopharmaceutical programs. She also held senior leadership roles at Bayer and Highlight Therapeutics, where she was recently Chief Medical Officer. At Oncoinvent, she will help prepare a potential Phase 3 study of Radspherin, which is still in a randomized Phase 2 trial in ovarian cancer. The company expects early efficacy data in the first half of 2027.
Enodia Therapeutics: A new finance chief joins after its Pfizer deal. The Paris-based biotech appointed Henrik Torp Nielsen CFO as it develops drugs targeting the Sec61 protein transport pathway. He previously led finance at Azafaros, where the company says he helped secure €132 million, and spent more than 15 years at Novartis. The hire follows Enodia’s €20.7 million seed round in January, the acquisition of preclinical assets from San Francisco-based Kezar Life Sciences in March and an October research and licensing agreement with Pfizer.
Sign up for our newsletter!
