The inaugural 40 Under 40 cohort includes CEOs, leaders who have founded or co-founded their company and executives from a range of disciplines. Winners’ accomplishments include shaping drug development, achieving key FDA milestones and launching a new field of study.
In recognition of their innovation, business impact and commitment to improving patient outcomes, 40 biotech and pharma professionals have been named to the inaugural BioSpace 40 Under 40 list. The cohort includes winners from a range of areas and disciplines, including clinical, computational science, management, manufacturing, marketing, regulatory, and science/research and development.
“These individuals demonstrate why the biopharma industry will continue to persevere—determination to improve health through innovation, creativity and leading with conviction,” said BioSpace CEO Josh Goodwin. “Their outstanding careers, entrepreneurship and achievements are a testament to the grit of our industry.”
Of the honorees, 16 are CEOs, 16 founded or co-founded their company and six are vice presidents.
The inaugural 40 Under 40 cohort’s accomplishments include:
- Supporting the commercial launch of Ohtuvayre (ensifentrine), which became the most successful launch of a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) treatment in modern history (Kristen Anderson, associate general counsel, Verona Pharma)
- Shaping the anticipated launch of an expanded indication for Orladeyo in pediatric patients ages 2–11, which would be the first oral prophylactic therapy for patients with hereditary angioedema (HAE) in this age group (Alex Tilley, senior vice president, advanced analytics and strategic operations, BioCryst Pharmaceuticals)
- Leading the integration of laser physics, optics and machine learning into biomanufacturing, an approach that recently earned the FDA’s first advanced manufacturing technology designation in regenerative medicine (Nabiha Saklayen, CEO and co-founder, Cellino Biotech)
- Guiding a company’s collaboration with OpenAI and Sanofi to develop custom, fine-tuned artificial intelligence models built specifically for drug development, a first-of-its-kind partnership for the pharmaceutical industry (Benjamine Liu, CEO and co-founder, Formation Bio)
- Doing innovative work on reversible RNA modifications, helping to launch an entirely new field of study and becoming widely recognized as a pioneer in chemical biology and spatial transcriptomics (Ye Fu, co-founder and chief scientific officer, Stellaromics)
- Spearheading the creation of more than 20 companies, launching 40 drug development programs and leading two teams to FDA approvals (Michael Henderson, CEO, Apogee Therapeutics)
- Co-founding or contributing to the formation of five biotech companies, creating groundbreaking platforms and being a named inventor on 97 patents across 20 families (Hok Hei Tam, co-founder and chief technology officer/senior principal, Montai Therapeutics/Flagship Pioneering)
- Contributing to multiple advancements for partner programs, including reducing a manufacturing process timeframe for an investigational CAR T therapy, leading to getting important therapies to patients, faster (Katie Jorgensen, vice president, site head, Basecamp, ElevateBio)
Nominations for 40 Under 40 were open from May 1 to Aug. 1. To be eligible, nominees had to be based in the U.S.; be 39 years of age or younger during the calendar year for which they were considered; work in a leadership role in any size company in biotech or pharma operating in the U.S.; and be employed at the company for which they were nominated when winners are announced.
View the full list of winners here.
