BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: BCRX) appointed Sandeep M. Menon as Chief Research and Development Officer, the company announced.

Menon joins BioCryst from Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, where he served as Chief Development Officer, overseeing global clinical development and safety across multiple therapeutic areas. At Alnylam, his team secured FDA approval of AMVUTTRA (vutrisiran), an RNAi therapeutic for ATTR cardiomyopathy.

Before Alnylam, Menon spent over a decade at Pfizer in senior R&D leadership roles, most recently as Senior Vice President, Head of Early Clinical Development and Chief Scientific Officer, BioMedicine AI and Digital Sciences. He co-led the clinical development of PAXLOVID, which progressed from first-in-human dosing to emergency use authorization in nine months.

"With navenibart advancing toward a potential BLA and a growing pipeline behind it, his leadership strengthens our ability to sharpen our R&D strategy, balance capital allocation and risk, and create durable long-term value through repeated rare disease launches," said Charlie Gayer, President and Chief Executive Officer of BioCryst.

Earlier in his career, Menon held clinical development and biostatistics leadership roles at Biogen Idec and Aptiv Solutions.

Menon holds a PhD in Biostatistics and an MPH in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from Boston University, an MS in Translational Pharmacology from The Ohio State University, and a medical degree from Karnataka University in India.

The appointment follows BioCryst's recent acquisition of Astria Therapeutics and the navenibart program. BioCryst has commercialized ORLADEYO (berotralstat), an oral plasma kallikrein inhibitor for hereditary angioedema.