“We are delighted to welcome Juha as our Chief Medical Officer. He brings a rare combination of scientific, clinical and strategic leadership experience, with a proven track record of guiding innovative therapies through critical development and regulatory milestones. His leadership will be instrumental as we advance HER-096, evaluate strategic partnering opportunities, and work to bring a potential disease-modifying treatment to people living with Parkinson’s disease,” says Antti Vuolanto, CEO of Herantis Pharma.

Juha Savola

Juha brings more than 25 years of global drug development, regulatory and executive leadership experience spanning neurology, gene therapy, and rare diseases. Throughout his career, he has played a key role in shaping development strategies for innovative therapies from early clinical development through to regulatory approval and commercialization, with extensive expertise in clinical and regulatory strategy, health authority engagement, program acceleration and strategic partnering.

Most recently, he served as Vice President, Clinical Development at Spark Therapeutics (Philadelphia, USA), where he led clinical development programmes across ophthalmology and neurology, including Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and epilepsy. He was responsible for global development strategy, execution of pivotal clinical programmes and regulatory engagement with the FDA and EMA, guiding innovative therapies through key development milestones while chairing multiple strategic development committees.

Prior to Spark, Juha held senior leadership positions at Teva Pharmaceuticals, F. Hoffman-La Roche, Santhera Pharmaceuticals, and Juvantia Pharma where he helped to shape global development strategies across neurodegenerative and neurological disorders, contributing to clinical development and regulatory programmes across the US, Europe and Asia.

In addition to his industry leadership experience, Juha is a physician-scientist with an MD and PhD from the University of Oulu. He has held academic appointments including Associate Professor at the University of Turku, and has authored more than 70 peer-reviewed publications covering neurodegenerative diseases, receptor pharmacology, clinical development and gene therapy.

“My professional mission is to advance meaningful therapeutic options for people living with Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. Joining Herantis at this pivotal stage for HER-096 aligns directly with this commitment. Parkinson’s disease remains one of the largest unmet needs in neurology, and HER-096 has the potential to become a truly disease-modifying treatment capable of altering the course of the illness. Herantis has generated compelling clinical, biomarker and translational evidence that provides a strong foundation for the next phase of development. I look forward to working with the team to advance HER-096, strengthen its strategic positioning, and help bring a new treatment option to patients, their families, and the physicians who care for them,” says Juha Savola.