Frazier Life Sciences (FLS), a longstanding investment firm focused on innovative therapeutics, today announced the appointment of Christian Schade as Senior Advisor. Chris will join Frazier Life Sciences’ Boston office and work closely with the firm’s portfolio companies on corporate strategy and business development.
“Chris brings deep operational and financial experience with both private and public biopharma companies,” said Joe Cabral, Partner at Frazier Life Sciences. “His leadership experience and ability to guide companies through critical inflection points make him a strong addition to our advisory team. We’re pleased to welcome him as we continue building out our Boston team.”
Mr. Schade joins Frazier Life Sciences with more than 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Most recently, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Halda Therapeutics, a company developing a novel class of cancer therapies, where he led the organization through its acquisition by Johnson & Johnson in December 2025.
“The Frazier Life Sciences team has a strong history of supporting companies at pivotal moments in their evolution, and I look forward to working with founders and leaders as they work to translate scientific discoveries into potentially groundbreaking therapies for the benefit of patients in need,” said Chris Schade.
Prior to his role at Halda, Mr. Schade served as President, Chief Executive Officer and Board Member of Aprea Therapeutics (Nasdaq: APRE) from 2016 to 2022, and as Chairman from 2020 to 2023. Under his leadership, Aprea advanced its pipeline of oncology therapeutics and completed its IPO in 2019.
Before joining Aprea, he held several executive roles at biotechnology companies developing emerging therapeutics, including: Chief Executive Officer of Novira, a privately held antiviral drug discovery company until its acquisition by Johnson & Johnson, Chief Financial Officer of Omthera Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a Nasdaq-listed specialty pharmaceuticals company focused on new therapies for dyslipidemia until its acquisition by AstraZeneca Plc, and Senior Vice President of Administration and Chief Financial Officer at Medarex, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on antibody-based therapeutic products for oncology, inflammation, autoimmune disorders and infectious diseases until its acquisition by Bristol-Myers Squibb.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Schade was Managing Director at Merrill Lynch in London, following nearly 20 years in corporate finance and capital markets roles at Merrill Lynch and JPMorgan in New York and London.
Chris received his A.B. degree from Princeton University and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
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