Strand Therapeutics Strengthens Strategic Leadership with Appointment of Industry Veteran Jeb Keiper to Board of Directors
Strand Therapeutics, a pioneering biotechnology company at the forefront of programmable mRNA therapeutics, has announced the appointment of Jeb Keiper as an independent member of its Board of Directors. The move underscores the company’s strategic focus on scaling its innovative platform and advancing a robust clinical pipeline. Keiper, the former Chief Executive Officer of Nimbus Therapeutics, brings more than two decades of experience in building and leading high-impact biotech ventures, particularly those centered around platform technologies and strategic partnerships.
Keiper’s appointment arrives at a pivotal moment for Strand Therapeutics, which is rapidly transitioning from a research-driven startup to a clinical-stage enterprise with multiple therapeutic programs advancing toward—and through—the clinic. His deep expertise in business development, capital formation, clinical-stage execution, and global licensing aligns seamlessly with Strand Therapeutics vision to redefine the boundaries of genetic medicine by leveraging the full programmability of mRNA.
“We’re not just developing drugs—we’re building the infrastructure for programmable genetic medicines,” said Jake Becraft, PhD, Co-founder and CEO of Strand Therapeutics. “Bringing Jeb on board at this stage reflects the trajectory we’re on. He’s built multi-billion-dollar platform biotechs, structured transformative partnerships, and navigated complex growth stages. That strategic perspective will be invaluable as we scale our platform and advance multiple clinical programs.”
A Track Record of Building Platform Biotechs from the Ground Up
Jeb Keiper’s career has been defined by his ability to translate scientific innovation into sustainable, scalable biotech enterprises. Most notably, during his 12-year tenure at Nimbus Therapeutics, Keiper played a central role in evolving the company from an early-stage discovery engine into a clinical powerhouse with a diversified pipeline and a strong balance sheet. Starting as Chief Business Officer and later serving as CFO before ascending to CEO, Keiper was instrumental in guiding Nimbus through four clinical-stage programs spanning oncology, immunology, and metabolic disease.
Under his leadership, Nimbus raised over $650 million in private equity financing and executed licensing agreements exceeding $7 billion in total potential value—deals that not only validated the company’s science but also returned over $4.1 billion in gains to investors. These accomplishments cemented Nimbus as a model for how lean, platform-focused biotech firms can achieve outsized impact through disciplined R&D and strategic corporate development.
Prior to Nimbus, Keiper spent nearly a decade at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), where he held multiple leadership roles in business development and licensing, helping to evaluate and integrate cutting-edge science into GSK’s global pipeline. This dual perspective—grounded in both large pharma strategy and entrepreneurial biotech execution—positions him uniquely to advise Strand Therapeutics as it navigates partnerships, clinical progression, and long-term commercialization pathways.
Why Strand? A Platform with Transformative Potential
For Keiper, the decision to join Strand Therapeutics board was driven by the company’s compelling scientific vision and early clinical momentum. Unlike first-generation mRNA approaches that primarily function as transient protein factories, Strand’s proprietary platform enables precise spatial and temporal control over therapeutic gene expression. This “programmable” dimension—achieved through synthetic biology and RNA logic gates—allows mRNA to be engineered to activate only in specific cell types or under defined biological conditions.
This level of control opens the door to entirely new therapeutic paradigms, including targeted cancer therapies, regenerative medicine, and next-generation cell therapies like in vivo CAR-T. Strand’s lead candidate, STX-001, has already demonstrated clinical activity in patients with advanced solid tumors who had exhausted standard-of-care options—a significant milestone for a first-in-class programmable mRNA therapeutic.
“Strand’s vision to use the demonstrated power of mRNA with precisely programmed expression to any specific cell type has the potential to be transformative for the treatment of many diseases,” Keiper said. “Strand has already shown patient success with its first clinical program, STX-001, with even more advanced programs coming to the clinic next year and beyond. I deeply admire what this team—especially Jake and the founding scientists—has built, and I’m honored to join as Strand’s first independent Board Director. I look forward to helping them achieve their ambitious vision.”
Building the Governance Infrastructure for Scale
Keiper’s appointment also marks a maturation point in Strand’s corporate governance. As the company’s first independent director, he brings not only strategic acumen but also board-level discipline and risk oversight—critical elements as Strand prepares for late-stage clinical trials, regulatory interactions, and potential commercial planning.
His addition complements a series of recent leadership hires that signal Strand’s readiness to operate at scale. In November 2025, the company promoted Prashant Nambiar, MBA, PhD, to Chief Scientific Officer, recognizing his contributions to platform development and pipeline strategy. Simultaneously, Ethan Cash was named Senior Vice President of Program Management and Strategy, charged with aligning cross-functional teams to accelerate development timelines.
These moves come on the heels of Strand’s $153 million Series B financing in August 2025, led by Kinnevik and supported by multiple undisclosed pharmaceutical investors—a testament to the growing industry confidence in programmable mRNA as a next-generation modality. The capital infusion is fueling ongoing Phase 1/2 trials in solid tumors, preparation for a second clinical program launching in mid-2026, and expansion into novel applications like in vivo engineered cell therapy.
The Road Ahead: From Platform Validation to Therapeutic Impact
With Keiper’s strategic guidance, Strand is positioned to accelerate its dual mission: validating the versatility of its programmable mRNA platform while delivering tangible clinical benefits to patients with high unmet needs. The company’s approach diverges from traditional biotech models by treating mRNA not just as a delivery vehicle, but as a programmable “operating system” for cellular function—one that can be customized to sense, compute, and respond to disease environments in real time.
This vision has already attracted top-tier scientific and clinical collaborators, and Keiper’s network and deal-making experience are expected to open new doors for partnerships with both biopharma and academic institutions. His track record of structuring milestone-rich, value-creating alliances could prove especially valuable as Strand Therapeutics explores co-development and geographic licensing opportunities.
Beyond his corporate roles, Keiper is known for his commitment to the broader life science ecosystem. He currently serves on the boards of Cardurion Pharmaceuticals, a cardiovascular-focused biotech, and Life Science Cares, a Boston-based nonprofit that mobilizes the biotech community to address local poverty. His academic credentials—dual BS degrees in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, an MS in Chemical Engineering from MIT, and an MBA from MIT Sloan with a joint program in Biomedical Enterprises through Harvard Medical School—reflect a rare blend of technical depth and business foresight.
A New Chapter in the mRNA Revolution
While the initial wave of mRNA success was defined by rapid vaccine development, the next frontier lies in therapeutic applications that require precision, persistence, and programmability. Strand Therapeutics is at the vanguard of this evolution, and with the addition of Jeb Keiper to its board, the company has reinforced its leadership team with one of the industry’s most seasoned architects of biotech growth.
As Strand Therapeutics advances toward pivotal clinical readouts and expands its platform into new disease areas, Keiper’s strategic counsel will be instrumental in ensuring that scientific breakthroughs translate into scalable, sustainable, and patient-centered medicines. In an era where the line between biotechnology and software-inspired engineering continues to blur, Strand Therapeutics programmable approach—and the leadership guiding it—may well shape the future of genetic medicine.
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