Strand Therapeutics Promotes Prashant Nambiar to Chief Scientific Officer and Appoints Ethan Cash as Senior Vice President, Head of Portfolio Management and Program Development

Audio By Carbonatix

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov 5, 2025--

Strand Therapeutics, a leader in next-generation mRNA-based therapeutics, today announced the promotion of Prashant Nambiar, DVM, PhD, MBA, as Chief Scientific Officer and appointment of Ethan Cash as Senior Vice President, Head of Portfolio Management and Program Development. The leadership updates reinforce Strand's capabilities across scientific innovation and program development.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251105520833/en/

Prashant Nambiar, DVM, PhD, MBA, Chief Scientific Officer at Strand Therapeutics

"Strand is building the infrastructure of programmable medicine, and these appointments reflect the operational maturity that vision requires," said Jake Becraft, PhD, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Strand Therapeutics. "Prashant leads our research engine and has proven he can drive programs from discovery to the clinic. Ethan brings the portfolio management discipline to run multiple programs in parallel and manage partnerships at scale. We're well-positioned to advance several clinical programs simultaneously and establish programmable mRNA as a revolutionary and validated new class of therapeutics."

Prashant Nambiar assumes the role of Chief Scientific Officer from his previous position as Senior Vice President in recognition of his ongoing leadership across Strand's Discovery, Preclinical, Translational, and Computational Biology teams. Dr. Nambiar helped develop and continues to oversee Strand’s multidisciplinary Research and Nonclinical organization of more than 50 scientists, encompassing mRNA discovery and LNP delivery, synthetic and computational biology, pharmacology, automation, and preclinical safety. He is responsible for driving the company’s portfolio from early discovery to clinical development, including advancing Strand’s first self-replicating mRNA therapeutic into the clinic.

With over 20 years of experience in biotech and pharma, Dr. Nambiar has advanced various modalities, including small molecules, biologics, AAV, cell and gene editing therapies at multiple stages of development. His expertise is in translational biology, pathology, and toxicology with a focus on bringing transformative therapies from bench to the clinic and beyond. Previously, he held the role of Vice President at 2seventybio and bluebird bio, leading the preclinical and translational group developing cell and gene therapies for oncology and rare disease, and additional roles at Pfizer, Genzyme, and MIT. Dr. Nambiar earned his PhD in Cancer Biology from the UConn Health Center and his MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management, and is board-certified in both Toxicology and Veterinary Pathology.

Ethan Cash has been appointed Senior Vice President, Head of Portfolio Management and Program Development to drive Strand’s expanding drug pipeline, including its lead program STX-001. With over two decades of biotech and pharmaceutical experience leading small molecule and biologic development programs, Mr. Cash was most recently Vice President and Head of Program Leadership at Mural Oncology, where he established the program management function and R&D progress metrics, directed the nemvaleukin alfa (an IL-2 variant) team through pivotal studies in Platinum Resistant Ovarian Cancer and Mucosal Melanoma, and partnered closely with regulatory teams on the biologics license application submission strategy. He spent over 13 years at Alkermes, where he served as Executive Director of R&D Integration and Program Management and led programs including ARISTADA®, a long-acting injectable for schizophrenia that he advanced from IND to NDA approval in just four years. At TransForm Pharmaceuticals, a Johnson & Johnson operating company, Mr. Cash previously managed alliances for collaborations with Centocor and Eli Lilly. He earned a BA in Pre-Med/Botany from Connecticut College.

About Strand Therapeutics

Strand Therapeutics is leading the next generation of programmable mRNA therapies: where synthetic biology meets programmable biology to unlock the full potential of gene regulation and delivery inside the body. Unlike traditional mRNA technologies, Strand’s platform programs RNA to think, enabling logic-controlled expression, precision delivery, and unprecedented control over therapeutic outcomes.

Born out of MIT and led by world-class synthetic biologists, Strand is building the infrastructure to create medicines that respond to disease signals in real-time. With its computationally-driven design engine, self-amplifying/circular RNA modalities, and mRNA-only genetic circuits, the company is pioneering a new therapeutic modality poised to disrupt immuno-oncology, cell therapy, autoimmune diseases, and beyond.

Strand’s lead pipeline program, STX-001, is already in the clinic showing unprecedented response rates in late stage “salvage” cancer patients, with multiple patients showing RECIST responses. Strand’s modular platform opens a broad horizon of partnership and licensing opportunities. Strand isn’t just another mRNA company: it’s the operating system for the programmable medicines of tomorrow. Follow us on LinkedIn and on X at @strandtx.

View source version on businesswire.com:https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251105520833/en/

CONTACT: Media Contact

Thermal for Strand Therapeutics

[email protected]

KEYWORD: MASSACHUSETTS UNITED STATES NORTH AMERICA

INDUSTRY KEYWORD: ONCOLOGY HEALTH GENETICS RESEARCH SCIENCE PHARMACEUTICAL BIOTECHNOLOGY

SOURCE: Strand Therapeutics

Copyright Business Wire 2025.

PUB: 11/05/2025 08:00 AM/DISC: 11/05/2025 08:01 AM

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251105520833/en