Connect leans into its U.S. profile as it remakes its leadership

U.S.-China cross-border biotech Connect Biopharma Holdings Ltd. (NASDAQ:CNTB) has rejiggered its C-suite and board, with its Chinese co-founders narrowing their roles at the inflammatory disease play as former executives from San Diego’s Heron Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:HRTX) take top posts and board member Kleanthis Xanthopoulos becomes chair. The moves come as recent data for lead asset rademikibart “establishes Connect as U.S.-driven late-stage company entering its pre-commercial phase,” said Xanthopoulos.

The company, which has locations in San Diego and the Chinese city of Taicang, had already moved its headquarters to the U.S. from China and, like some other companies with roots in China, begun calling itself a “global” biotech. In February, I-Mab Biopharma (NASDAQ:IMAB) appointed Pamela Klein as interim chair and named Joseph Skelton as CFO, as the biotech began to divest its assets and operations in China as part of its plan to become a U.S. biotech. The U.S. and China biotech communities have been closing watching geopolitical tensions, including the Biosecure Act, as they try to refine their global strategies...