Serapha Bio has named its senior leadership team as the company advances SERP-01, a potential best-in-class in vivo base editing program for alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD): Kenneth T. Mills as Chief Executive Officer, Daphne Karydas as President and Chief Financial Officer, Weston Miller, MD, as Chief Medical Officer, Nina Hunter, PhD, as Chief Development Officer, and Shiva Fritsch as Chief Corporate Affairs Officer. “We’ve assembled a team of proven leaders spanning genetic medicines, regulatory strategy, clinical development, manufacturing and commercialization,” Mills said. “Each of these leaders has helped build and operate successful biotechnology companies focused on rare and life-threatening diseases, and I’m thrilled to partner with them as we advance SERP-01, our potentially best-in-class base-editing therapy, through global clinical development.”
About Ken Mills
Mills brings more than 20 years of biotechnology executive leadership to the role. He most recently served as President, CEO, and a director of Tagworks Pharmaceuticals, a precision oncology company. Before that, he spent 15 years as Founding President and CEO of REGENXBIO, leading the company through its 2015 IPO, and currently serves as Chairman of its Board of Directors. “What stands out is the precision of the editing profile and restoration of circulating AAT levels, which we believe give SERP-01 best-in-class potential,” Mills said.
Mills holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
About Daphne Karydas
Karydas brings more than 20 years of financial leadership in biopharmaceutical operations, capital markets, and healthcare investment banking to the role. “The emerging data from the ongoing IIT are extremely compelling and a major driver of my conviction in joining Serapha,” Karydas said. “That, combined with the unique opportunity to build alongside Ken and this leadership team of proven operators, is why I’m thrilled to join Serapha at this stage. With the support of world-class investors, we have the team and the runway to move SERP-01 through the clinic with the speed and rigor patients with AATD deserve.”
Karydas joins Serapha from Flare Therapeutics, where she served as President and CFO, and previously held CFO and senior strategy roles at Syndax Pharmaceuticals and Allergan. She currently serves on the boards of COMPASS Pathways, Mineralys Therapeutics, and Epikast.
Karydas holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA and MS in Chemical Engineering from MIT.
About Weston Miller, MD
Miller brings more than 20 years of clinical development experience in genomic medicines for rare, severe genetic disorders to the role. He most recently served as Chief Medical Officer of Epicrispr Biotechnologies (Epic Bio), and previously led clinical investigation at Graphite Bio and held medical director roles at Astellas Gene Therapies and Sangamo Therapeutics. He also served as an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Minnesota.
Miller holds an MD from the Louisiana State University School of Medicine and a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Stanford University.
About Nina Hunter, PhD
Hunter brings nearly 20 years of regulatory and drug development leadership across industry and government to the role. She spent six years as Senior Vice President, Global Regulatory Strategy and Quality at REGENXBIO, overseeing regulatory strategy, policy, and regulatory affairs from early research through BLA submission and FDA review, and managing the company’s Quality functions. Before REGENXBIO, she spent 12 years at the FDA, rising to Director of the Office of Clinical Policy and Programs.
Hunter holds a PhD in Genetics from Harvard Medical School and an AB in Biochemistry from Bowdoin College.
About Shiva Fritsch
Fritsch brings more than 20 years of experience guiding the growth and strategic evolution of biopharmaceutical companies to the role. She spent nine years as Chief Communications and People Officer at REGENXBIO, building the company’s people, communications, and patient advocacy functions, and previously held leadership roles at Novavax, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Human Genome Sciences.
Fritsch holds an MBA from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business and a BA in Biology and Neurobiology from Bryn Mawr College.
About Serapha Bio
Serapha Bio is a clinical-stage genetic medicines company developing SERP-01, a proprietary base editing therapy for patients with alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD), the leading genetic cause of serious, progressive lung and liver disease. SERP-01 is in clinical development for AATD patients with the PiZZ genotype, the most severe genetic mutation responsible for more than 90% of AATD cases, and consists of a lipid nanoparticle formulation containing messenger RNA encoding Serapha’s proprietary adenine base editor together with a guide RNA designed to precisely correct the disease-causing mutation. Encouraging proof-of-concept data from an investigator-initiated trial were presented at the European Respiratory Society Congress this month, and the company is on track to initiate a Phase 2/3 study in late 2026 or early 2027. Serapha Bio is set to become a public company through a proposed merger with Boundless Bio, Inc. (Nasdaq: BOLD), backed by approximately $230 million in private investment co-led by RTW Investments and RA Capital Management.
