Paragon Labs hires former Apogee leadership after AbbVie acquisition and spins out hypertension unit

Paragon Labs announced it has brought several former Apogee Therapeutics executives onto its senior team following AbbVie's $10.9 billion purchase of Apogee.

The incoming leaders include Michael Henderson, who previously headed Apogee, as well as Carl Dambkowski (head of R&D), Dan Mulreany (chief business and financial officer), Matt Batters (chief legal officer) and Emily Cox (chief people officer). They will assume comparable roles at Paragon.

The talent shift comes after Paragon completed a reverse merger that listed its hypertension-focused spinout Velaris Therapeutics on Nasdaq through an acquisition by Alaunos Therapeutics, highlighting the company's strategy to leverage internal discoveries such as the eczema drug zumilokibart.