Bicara names successor CEO, reports pivotal trial on track for 2027 readout
Ryan Cohlhepp will succeed Claire Mazumdar as CEO in January 2027 as Bicara nears full enrollment in its head and neck cancer trial and reports $497.3 million in cash.
Bicara Therapeutics announced on August 11, 2026 that Ryan Cohlhepp, Bicara's President and Chief Operating Officer, will succeed Claire Mazumdar as Chief Executive Officer effective January 1, 2027.1 Mazumdar will move to Vice Chair of the Board and serve as Strategic Advisor as part of a planned leadership transition.1 The company also said Tanya Green, Chief Development Officer, will succeed Cohlhepp as COO effective January 1, 2027,1 and Jenn Larson has been appointed Chief Financial Officer, succeeding Ivan Hyep, effective August 12, 2026.1
On the pipeline, Bicara said it is continuing to enroll Phase 3 of the FORTIFI-HN01 pivotal trial in first-line recurrent or metastatic HPV-negative head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and expects to be substantially enrolled by the end of the year, enabling topline results from an interim analysis in mid-2027.1 The company also initiated FORTIFI-FLEX, a randomized, open-label study evaluating ficerafusp alfa in combination with pembrolizumab using a 12-week loading dose of 1500mg weekly followed by maintenance dosing of 2250mg every three weeks, with results expected by the time of a potential U.S. accelerated approval in first-line HPV-negative HNSCC.1
At the 2026 ASCO meeting, Bicara presented three-year follow-up data from its Phase 1/1b study, showing the 1500mg weekly dose cohort had an estimated overall survival rate of 31%, roughly double the survival rate seen in retrospective analysis of standard-of-care pembrolizumab in HPV-negative patients.1 The company also plans to present data from a Phase 1b expansion cohort evaluating ficerafusp alfa as monotherapy and in combination with pembrolizumab in third-line-plus metastatic colorectal cancer patients in the second half of 2026.1
On finances, Bicara reported cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $497.3 million as of June 30, 2026, compared to $414.8 million at the end of 2025,1 and said it expects this to fund operations into the first half of 2029.1
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