Coulter Partners Places Biotech Entrepreneur as CEO of Nuage Therapeutics
June 2, 2025 – Life sciences recruiting specialist Coulter Partners has assisted in the recruitment of Stuart Hughes as CEO of Nuage Therapeutics. “Coulter Partners has been an invaluable partner in this crucial appointment for Nuage Therapeutics,” said Vanessa Malier, chair of the board of directors of Nuage Therapeutics. “Their team demonstrated exceptional dedication and a truly collaborative spirit, working closely with me to realize the ambitions of both Sofinnova and Asabys to build impactful companies with strong leadership. We particularly appreciated their flexibility and adaptability throughout the process, ultimately enabling us to secure an outstanding CEO who aligns perfectly with our vision for Nuage’s future.”
Dr. Hughes has broad R&D leadership experience in a range of settings having worked in drug discovery across multiple therapeutic areas. He joins Nuage from Pathios Therapeutics, an immuno-oncology company where he served as CEO and where he built the company from an initial seed investment to a clinical-stage organization. During this period, Dr. Hughes led the completion of a €25m series B first close, that included the addition of Bristol Myers Squibb as a strategic investor, to support ongoing Phase 1 studies. Previously, he was a senior director at the global biotech, Vertex Pharmaceuticals and before then, he was a principal research scientist in CNS disorders at Eli Lilly.
“Nuage possesses a highly differentiated suite of technologies that enables the capture of disordered proteins in a form that is amenable to small molecule screening and profiling,” said Dr. Hughes. “I believe Nuage represents a game-changing advance in drug discovery and precision medicine, especially where targets have previously been considered undruggable. Allied to a highly skilled team and the support of top-tier investors, Nuage is ideally positioned for growth and success. I look forward to getting started.”
Nuage is a biotech company focused on creating transformational precision therapies by targeting established oncogenic transcription factors. The Company has developed a set of tools that enables the reconstitution of intrinsically-disordered proteins (IDPs) in a secondary-structured form that renders them amenable to small molecule drug discovery thereby unlocking a wide range of previously intractable but important drug targets with a robust human biological basis for therapeutic intervention.
Coulter Partners is a board- and senior-level global executive search specialist focused exclusively on life sciences. The firm works closely with those at the cutting edge of innovation in the industry to understand their challenges. With an extensive global network and expertise gained over 25 years in the sector, Coulter Partners is a trusted leadership adviser in the pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical technology, diagnostics, health-tech, CRO, and services sectors.
Coulter Partners also works closely with the global investor community, hiring for their own teams as well as building the boards and executive leadership teams of their portfolio companies. Coulter Partners’ team of 95 completes over 260 assignments a year working from 14 offices across the U.K., EMEA, the U.S., and APAC.
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Bianca Coulter founded Coulter Partners in 2003 and has 25 years’ experience of board and C-level global search, building the leadership teams of early stage, mid-cap, and global multinationals in over 20 countries. Through appointing leadership, Ms. Coulter channels her judgment and expertise to impact patient benefit and assist those at the cutting edge of life science to achieve their goals.
ExpressionEdits Search
Coulter Partners recently helped to recruit Amrik Basran as chief scientific officer of ExpressionEdits. “Amrik’s extensive experience in biologics development makes him an invaluable addition to ExpressionEdits,” said Kärt Tomberg, co-founder and CEO of ExpressionEdits. “His leadership will be key as we expand from platform innovation to therapeutic development, ensuring our technology delivers real impact for patients. We greatly valued Coulter Partners‘ extensive network and industry experience. They presented us with a diverse pool of talent, which enabled us to select Amrik, the ideal chief scientific officer for this stage of our company.”
The New Race for Talent in Life Sciences and Healthcare
The life sciences and healthcare industries are experiencing unprecedented growth, creating intense competition for top-tier talent in an increasingly complex and tech-driven landscape. As the demand for highly specialized roles rises—spanning biotech, data science, and digital health—organizations must rethink their leadership strategies to stay ahead. At the forefront of this evolution, Mattson & Company/GMiQ is helping clients navigate shifting hiring dynamics, longer recruitment timelines, and the growing importance of employee value propositions, succession planning, and leadership fit in an era where agility, innovation, and cultural alignment are more critical than ever.
Dr. Basran brings over two decades of experience in biologic drug discovery and development, spanning early-stage research to clinical application. He previously served as chief scientific officer at Avacta Life Sciences, where he led the development of an antibody mimetic scaffold, driving programs from discovery through to large scale manufacturing. He also held the CSO role at Curadh MTR and was chief discovery officer at Turbine.AI, applying AI-driven approaches to drug discovery.
ExpressionEdits is a pioneering biotechnology company dedicated to enhancing protein expression using advanced AI and proprietary intron technology. Headquartered in Cambridge, U.K., ExpressionEdits is committed to advancing genetic medicine through innovative research and development.
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Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief and Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
