Sibylla Biotech Appoints Usman Azam CEO, Gianluca Fuggetta CFO, and Expands Executive Team to Drive Transition to Clinic

• Lidia Pieri to serve as Chief Operating Officer and Elena Ardini promoted to Chief Scientific Officer
• Cyclin D1-targeting folding-interfering degrader advances as Sibylla’s lead program

Milan, Italy, October 13, 2026 – Sibylla Biotech today announced key executive appointments, including Usman Azam, MD, as Chief Executive Officer and Gianluca Fuggetta, MSc, MBA, as Chief Financial Officer. Both bring significant international corporate expertise, with Dr. Azam contributing more than 25 years of global biopharmaceutical executive, scientific and clinical development leadership. Co-founder and previous CEO Lidia Pieri, PhD, MBA, will remain with the company in the role of Chief Operating Officer. Sibylla also announced the promotion of Elena Ardini, MSc, from Vice President, Research and Development to Chief Scientific Officer. The executive leadership team expansion highlights the company’s progress in validating its differentiated folding interference protein degradation technology and its commitment to bringing its lead program into clinical evaluation.

“Sibylla has evolved as an organization, making this the right time to expand the executive team and drive further momentum. Usman brings a powerful combination of company building and oncology research and development experience to lead Sibylla toward first-in-human studies. This progress would not have been possible without the strong foundation Lidia built as founding CEO, and we highly value her continued leadership as we enter this new chapter. The Board and I are convinced that the team is well positioned to accelerate the development of Sibylla’s highly differentiated protein degradation approach and emerging oncology pipeline,” said Dieter Weinand, Chairman of the Board of Sibylla Biotech.

“By pursuing protein folding interference, Sibylla has the potential to expand the druggable proteome, unlocking therapeutic protein targets that have historically presented significant development challenges. Early intervention and disruption of the protein folding process represents an entirely new mechanism and class of degraders that could change the oncology treatment paradigm,” added Dr. Azam. “Together with our world-class executive team, Sibylla is focused on advancing its lead program targeting Cyclin D1 into the clinic and validating the therapeutic potential of this novel protein degradation approach.”

With nearly three decades of experience at global pharmaceutical companies and pioneering biotechs, Dr. Azam most recently served as Chief Executive Officer of CUE Biopharma, where he led the company’s strategic repositioning toward autoimmune diseases. His prior CEO roles include Inspirna, Inc., a privately held clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of novel cancer drugs, and Empyrean Neuroscience, a genetic engineering company. Before that, he served as President and CEO of Tmunity Therapeutics, a biotech developing genetically engineered CAR-T cell therapies for solid tumors. He held various senior research and development roles at Novartis, including serving as Global Head of the Cell and Gene Therapies Unit, where he helped deliver and launch the first-ever FDA approval for a CAR-T cell therapy in hematologic cancers. Earlier in his career, Dr. Azam also held senior research and development and executive roles at Aspreva Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson, GSK and Pfizer. He received his Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery and a BS in Anatomy and Human Biology from the University of Liverpool.

Before joining Sibylla as CFO, Mr. Fuggetta was Senior Vice President of Finance and Principal Financial Officer of Gain Therapeutics (NASDAQ: GANX), a clinical-stage biotechnology company. As a member of the executive leadership team, he partnered with the CEO on capital allocation and pipeline strategy, supported the company's public equity financings and investor relations, and built the long-range financial planning. Earlier in his career, Mr. Fuggetta spent nine years at PwC in Milan, New York, and Munich, advising SEC-registered multinationals on financial reporting, M&A, and complex transactions under US GAAP and IFRS. He holds a BS in Economics from Università Cattolica, an MSc in Accounting from Università Bocconi, and an MBA from Politecnico di Milano.

Mrs. Ardini is an accomplished oncology research and development leader with more than 25 years of experience driving the discovery and development of innovative cancer therapeutics. Before her position as Vice President, Research and Development at Sibylla, she held various senior research and development roles at Nerviano Medical Sciences, including Project Leader for entrectinib (Rozlytrek), a globally approved targeted cancer therapy, and she was the principal scientific driver of non-clinical development and early clinical strategy. Earlier in her career, she held research scientist roles at New York University Medical Center and Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori di Milano. She received a MSc in Biological Sciences from the University of Milano.

About Sibylla Biotech

Sibylla is building a transformative therapeutic pipeline by leveraging the power of folding interference protein degradation to target proteins before they become undruggable. Through its proprietary, physics-based, AI-enhanced technology platform, Sibylla identifies small molecule drug candidates that disrupt the protein folding process while maintaining favorable drug-like properties. Focused on oncology, the Sibylla team is driven by its mission to deliver innovative therapeutics to patients worldwide.

For further information: https://www.sibyllabiotech.it/

Sibylla Biotech Contact
contact@sibyllabiotech.it

Sibylla Biotech Media Contact
Trophic Communications
Gretchen Schweitzer / Adolfo Luna
+49 175 80 41 816
sibylla@trophic.eu

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