Appointments: Oculis, PellePharm, Syntimmune, Sterna Biologicals, Proclara Biosciences, Denovo Biopharma and OrphoMed

Big changes were announced at Oculis: the Icelandic clinical-stage biotech named Riad Sherif chief executive officer, succeeding Páll Ragnar Jóhannesson who becomes chief financial officer and managing director in Iceland. Sherif had been area president of Europe, Middle East and Africa at Novartis AG's Alcon Inc. Meanwhile, Sabri Markabi, formerly Alcon's SVP, chief medical officer and head of R&D, will become Oculis' chief scientific officer. Oculis' co-founders Einar Stefánsson and Thorsteinn Loftsson have become chief innovation officer and chief research and technology officer, respectively while Florent Gros, a managing director at Novartis Venture Fund, joined Oculis' board as chairman. Oculis is also moving its corporate headquarters to Lausanne, Switzerland from Reykjavik while its R&D operations will remain in Iceland.

Clinical-stage biotech PellePharm Inc. has appointed Sanuj K. Ravindran president and chief executive officer. In parallel, Ravindran has joined BridgeBio Pharma, PellePharm's lead investor, as CEO-in-Residence, to advance its broader orphan dermatology portfolio. Previously a practicing physician, Ravindran's most recently was chief business officer at aTyr Pharma Inc., a clinical-stage rare disease-focused biotech where he led corporate and financial strategy, business development