ARS Pharmaceuticals names Donn Casale as CEO, replacing co-founder

ARS Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: SPRY) announced that co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Richard Lowenthal departed the company effective July 6, 2026, after more than a decade leading the San Diego-based biopharmaceutical firm since its founding in 2015.

The company's board appointed Donn Casale, who had been serving as President, as CEO and Director effective July 7, 2026.

Casale brings more than 25 years of biopharmaceutical commercial and business leadership. Before joining ARS Pharmaceuticals, he served as Chief Commercial Officer at Dynavax Technologies, where he helped scale the hepatitis B vaccine HEPLISAV-B from launch to more than $300 million in annualized revenue and over 50% U.S. market share. Dynavax was subsequently acquired by Sanofi for $2.2 billion. Earlier, Casale held marketing and sales roles at Depomed and spent 14 years at Merck, contributing to the launches of several vaccines including GARDASIL and ZOSTAVAX.

Board Chairman Pratik Shah said in a statement that Casale has "deep operational and financial acumen, and proven commercial track record, particularly in growing adoption and share in large, consumer-driven markets."

ARS Pharmaceuticals markets neffy, an epinephrine nasal spray approved in the U.S. for emergency treatment of Type I allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis, in adults and children weighing 33 lbs. or more. The product is also approved in the European Union and United Kingdom under the name EURneffy.

You May Also Be Interested In

• ADARx Pharmaceuticals files for proposed IPO
• Ardent Health revises 2025 non-GAAP figures after SEC staff talks
• CORVEX (MOVE) files $500M mixed shelf