# Mathai Mammen

> Mathai Mammen is the Chairman, CEO and President of Parabilis Medicines (formerly FogPharma), a Cambridge biotech going after cancer targets long written off as undruggable. A trained physician-chemist who co-founded Theravance out of grad school and later ran R&D at Merck and Johnson & Johnson, he has had a hand in the discovery or development of roughly 19 approved medicines. At Parabilis he is betting on Helicon peptides - engineered molecules that slip inside cells to hit protein-protein interfaces small molecules and antibodies cannot reach.

- **Role:** Chairman, CEO and President at Parabilis Medicines
- **Organizations:** Parabilis Medicines, Theravance, Merck, Johnson & Johnson (Janssen), Sandoz, Xaira Therapeutics, Kelonia, General Atlantic, Foresite Capital
- **Nationality:** Canadian-American
- **Education:** BSc in Chemistry and Biochemistry, Dalhousie University, Ph.D. in Chemistry (advisor: George Whitesides), Harvard University, M.D., Harvard Medical School / MIT (HST Program)
- **Known for:** Led the discovery or development of roughly 19 approved high-impact medicines across multiple therapeutic areas, Co-founded Theravance and led R&D behind Breo, Anoro, Trelegy, Yupelri and Vibativ, Helped advance Keytruda during his time at Merck

## Career timeline

- **1997** — Co-founded Theravance, Inc. with George Whitesides and Roy Vagelos, based on his Harvard doctoral work
- **1997-2016** — Head of R&D at Theravance; team nominated 31 development candidates and created five approved products including Breo, Anoro, Trelegy, Yupelri and Vibativ
- **2014** — Split Theravance into two public companies: Innoviva (INVA) and Theravance Biopharma (TBPH)
- **2016** — Joined Merck as Senior Vice President overseeing immunology, oncology, immuno-oncology, cardiovascular, metabolic and renal disease; contributed to Keytruda
- **2018** — Became Global Head of R&D at Johnson & Johnson's Janssen; later EVP of Pharmaceuticals and R&D and Executive Committee member
- **2023** — Joined FogPharma as Chairman, CEO and President
- **2024** — Rebranded FogPharma as Parabilis Medicines and unveiled an AI- and physics-based discovery platform

## Achievements

- Led the discovery or development of roughly 19 approved high-impact medicines across multiple therapeutic areas
- Co-founded Theravance and led R&D behind Breo, Anoro, Trelegy, Yupelri and Vibativ
- Helped advance Keytruda during his time at Merck
- At J&J, oversaw 40+ acquisitions and licensing deals and 350+ strategic partnerships, and led global approvals for nine medicines
- Authored more than 150 peer-reviewed publications and patents
- Advanced FOG-001 (zolucatetide), described as the first beta-catenin:TCF interaction inhibitor

## Latest updates

- **2024-10** — FogPharma rebranded as Parabilis Medicines, unveiling an AI- and physics-based discovery platform and highlighting its next wave of drug candidates.
- **2026-01** — Company associated with a reported Series F raise of $305M (total funding cited around $867M).

## Links

- Website: https://parabilismed.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mathai-mammen
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F0CBZ_YKBk

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/mathai-mammen
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-03