Flagship Pioneering Appoints Rahul Kakkar as CEO-Partner and CEO of Quotient Therapeutics

Rhea-AI Summary

Flagship Pioneering and Quotient Therapeutics have appointed Rahul Kakkar, M.D. as CEO-Partner and Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Kakkar brings nearly 20 years of experience in biotech entrepreneurship and medicine, previously serving as CEO of Tome Biosciences and Pandion Therapeutics, which was acquired by Merck for $1.85 billion.

Jake Rubens, Quotient's co-founder and former CEO, will transition to a board director role after successfully establishing the company's first industrial platform for discovering drug targets through somatic genomics and securing a collaboration with Pfizer in cardiovascular and renal diseases.

Dr. Kakkar, who continues to practice at Brigham and Women's Hospital and lecture at Harvard Medical School, will lead Quotient's efforts in advancing its pipeline and platform technology. The company's focus on somatic genomics aims to discover novel drug targets and create first-in-class medicines for various diseases.

Positive

• New CEO Rahul Kakkar has proven track record of successful exits - led Pandion Therapeutics to $1.85B Merck acquisition
• Previous leadership success includes Corvidia Therapeutics' $2.1B acquisition by Novo Nordisk
• Existing collaboration agreement with Pfizer in cardiovascular and renal diseases
• Company has established research presence in both UK and US markets
• Platform already validated and begun drug discovery across multiple diseases

Negative

• None.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 29, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Flagship Pioneering, the bioplatform innovation company, and Quotient Therapeutics, a company pioneering somatic genomics, today announced that Rahul Kakkar, M.D., will join Flagship Pioneering as CEO-Partner and Quotient Therapeutics as Chief Executive Officer.

Dr. Kakkar is a biotech entrepreneur and physician-scientist with nearly 20 years of professional experience founding and building biotechnology companies and practicing medicine. Previously, he served as President and CEO of Tome Biosciences, a genome engineering biotechnology platform company. Prior to Tome, Dr. Kakkar was CEO at Pandion Therapeutics, a biologics drug design platform company focused on autoimmune diseases that successfully completed an IPO prior to its acquisition by Merck for $1.85 billion. Before his role at Pandion, Dr. Kakkar served as founder, Chief Medical Officer and Chief Strategy Officer at Corvidia Therapeutics, which was acquired by Novo Nordisk for $2.1 billion. He was also Director of Emerging Innovations at AstraZeneca. He continues to practice medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital and is a lecturer in medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Kakkar received his B.A. from Tufts University and his M.D. from the Tufts University School of Medicine.

"Rahul's experience as a successful entrepreneur and leader in the biotech industry and his expertise in drug R&D and biotechnology platforms will be invaluable to Quotient," said Noubar Afeyan, Ph.D., Co-founder of Quotient Therapeutics and Founder and CEO of Flagship Pioneering. "We're pleased to have him join as a CEO-Partner at Flagship and look forward to his contributions to Quotient, to Flagship, and to our ecosystem."

Jake Rubens, Ph.D., who co-founded and led Quotient as CEO, will stay involved in the company's growth as a board director. Under Rubens's leadership, Quotient pioneered the world's first industrial platform for the discovery of novel, human-validated drug targets via somatic genomics, validated and began drug discovery against the company's first targets across multiple diseases and therapeutic areas, established Quotient's research sites in the UK and US, and signed collaboration agreements with Pfizer in cardiovascular and renal diseases.

"On behalf of the board, I am grateful to Jake for taking Quotient from concept to creation and know that he will continue to drive innovation of the platform from his role on the board," said Geoffrey von Maltzahn, Ph.D., Co-founder and Chairman of Quotient and General Partner at Flagship. "Rahul is a dynamic leader who has repeatedly cultivated valuable pipelines and scaled companies working at the frontiers of new domains of drug development. I look forward to working with him as we take the next big leap with Quotient."

Dr. Kakkar stated, "The Human Genome Project opened incredible avenues twenty years ago for therapeutics development, creating hundreds of new medicines for patients. Somatic genomics represents a similarly transformative step change, both in our understanding of disease biology and our ability as drug developers to create interventions. Quotient's platform reveals a wealth of novel drug targets encoded in the somatic genome and holds enormous potential to fuel the creation of first-in-class medicines that protect against, fight, or counter a broad range of diseases. I look forward to leading the company as we advance Quotient's pipeline and further realize the promise of its platform technology."

Rubens, who is also an Origination Partner at Flagship, added, "Rahul is ideally suited to lead Quotient toward our next horizons, growing and developing our platform and portfolio of target discoveries and medicines, and directing the company to the most attractive value creation opportunities." 

About Quotient Therapeutics

Quotient Therapeutics is the first company to systematically study the genetic variation and evolution of the trillions of cells inside the human body. The company's Somatic Genomics platform reveals novel links between genes and disease across a broad range of therapeutic areas, enabling the discovery of transformative medicines intended to cure, prevent, or reverse disease. Founded by Flagship Pioneering in 2022, Quotient is backed by experts in the field of somatic genetics.

About Flagship Pioneering

Flagship Pioneering invents and builds bioplatform companies, each with the potential for multiple products that transform human health or sustainability. Since its launch in 2000, Flagship has originated and fostered more than 100 scientific ventures, resulting in more than $60 billion in aggregate value. Flagship is operating with $14 billion of assets under management as of its latest capital raise, announced in July 2024. The current Flagship ecosystem comprises over 40 companies, including Foghorn Therapeutics (NASDAQ: FHTX), Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA), Sana Biotechnology (NASDAQ: SANA), Generate Biomedicines, Inari, Indigo Agriculture, Lila Sciences, and Tessera Therapeutics.

Media Contacts:

press@flagshippioneering.com

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SOURCE Flagship Pioneering

FAQ

What experience does Rahul Kakkar bring to Quotient Therapeutics (FHTX) as new CEO?

Rahul Kakkar brings nearly 20 years of biotech leadership experience, including successful exits as CEO of Pandion Therapeutics ($1.85B Merck acquisition) and CMO at Corvidia Therapeutics ($2.1B Novo Nordisk acquisition). He also led Tome Biosciences and held positions at AstraZeneca while maintaining medical practice at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

How has Quotient Therapeutics (FHTX) performed under previous CEO Jake Rubens?

Under Jake Rubens, Quotient developed the first industrial platform for somatic genomics drug target discovery, established research sites in the UK and US, and secured collaboration agreements with Pfizer in cardiovascular and renal diseases. Rubens will continue as a board director.

What is Quotient Therapeutics' (FHTX) main technology platform?

Quotient Therapeutics pioneered an industrial platform using somatic genomics to discover novel, human-validated drug targets. This platform helps identify new drug targets encoded in the somatic genome for developing first-in-class medicines across multiple diseases.

What strategic partnerships does Quotient Therapeutics (FHTX) currently have?

Quotient Therapeutics has established collaboration agreements with Pfizer specifically focused on cardiovascular and renal diseases, leveraging their somatic genomics platform for drug target discovery.

What is the relationship between Flagship Pioneering and Quotient Therapeutics (FHTX)?

Flagship Pioneering co-founded Quotient Therapeutics, with Noubar Afeyan serving as Co-founder and Geoffrey von Maltzahn as Co-founder and Chairman. Rahul Kakkar joins as both CEO-Partner at Flagship and CEO of Quotient.