Helus Pharma Names Michael Cola As CEO For Next Phase Of Growth

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 11 (Bernama) -- Helus Pharma (Helus), a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company, has appointed Michael Cola as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) effective immediately, as the company enters its next phase of scale and execution.

The leadership change comes as Helus advances its pipeline of next-generation mental health therapies toward key clinical and corporate milestones, including the expected release of Phase 2 data for HLP004 this quarter and Phase 3 topline data for HLP003 in the fourth quarter of 2026.

In parallel, the company in a statement said it continues to expand its intellectual property portfolio across its multi-asset pipeline, with more than 350 patent applications filed globally and over 100 patents granted to date.

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Helus co-founder and executive chairman, Eric So said Cola brings a combination of deep neuroscience expertise, global commercialisation experience and capital markets leadership to support the company’s transition into later-stage development.

With more than 30 years of experience across neuroscience, rare disease, and speciality pharmaceuticals, Cola has led central nervous system (CNS) programmes through development and into global markets while building high-performance commercial and operational organisations.

Most recently, Cola served as President and CEO of Avalo Therapeutics Inc, where he led the company’s strategic shift toward rare disease and genomic medicine, licensed first-in-class clinical-stage assets and raised significant funding.

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Helus is advancing differentiated programmes designed to address serious mental health disorders and is increasingly focused on global regulatory engagement and long-term commercial planning as it moves from early-stage development toward later-stage execution.

-- BERNAMA