ReCode Hands Cystic Fibrosis Push To Heather Clark, After 18-Month CEO Transition

ReCode Therapeutics has named Heather Clark as CEO, replacing Shehnaaz Suliman in a handoff both executives described as deliberate rather than reactive. Suliman said the company and board chose not to run an outside search because Clark was already inside the business, running strategy and trusted by the board, and a search would have cost time.

The transition, completed in early August, puts ReCode’s cystic fibrosis program in the hands of an executive with deep disease-specific experience. Clark joined ReCode in 2022 after about 20 years at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, where she worked on CFTR modulator therapies including Trikafta and Alyftrek. She told BioSpace she has now spent 27 years in cystic fibrosis drug discovery and development.

The strategic signal is continuity. ReCode is trying to move from a research organization into a company with a clinical pipeline, and the board appears to have concluded that keeping that shift under the executive already shaping the lead disease area carries less execution risk than a broader search.

The Pipeline Focus

Cystic fibrosis has become ReCode’s primary focus, centered on inhaled mRNA therapy RCT2100. Clark said the remaining unmet need is clear even after major progress from modulators: those drugs cover about 90% of the cystic fibrosis population, but for patients without modulator therapies, the disease is still fatal.

ReCode also has RCT1100 for primary ciliary dyskinesia, a rare inherited disease characterized by progressive lung destruction. In May, the company reported proof-of-concept data for its selective organ targeting, or SORT, lipid nanoparticle platform. More than half of patients with primary ciliary dyskinesia who took RCT1100 in a Phase 1b trial achieved meaningful improvement in mucociliary clearance at 12 weeks.

Suliman said at the time that the result demonstrated the promise of inhaled genetic medicine delivery to the lung for the first time. In that framing, the CEO transition follows clinical validation rather than preceding it.

Why The Board Stayed Internal

Suliman said the succession process was executed over 18 months, which she contrasted with the abrupt changes often seen in biopharma. Clark said becoming CEO was not initially on her radar and that Suliman had actively mentored her toward the role, highlighting her strategic thinking.

That matters because ReCode’s next phase is operational as much as scientific. Clark said the company she joined in 2022 is not the company it is now, reflecting a buildout from early research toward clinical development. An internal promotion preserves the strategy around RCT2100 and RCT1100 while avoiding a reset at a moment when development priorities are already defined.

Clark also brings relationships in the disease community. During her Vertex years, she built a strong relationship with the CF Foundation, which is now providing new funding to ReCode.

What Comes Next

Clark said she is focused on driving RCT2100 and RCT1100 deeper into the clinic. Suliman, meanwhile, framed her departure as part of a broader leadership philosophy: leaving a company in a better scientific, clinical and financial position than when she found it.

For ReCode, the immediate test is whether a carefully staged leadership transition can help convert platform validation into later-stage progress in lung-directed genetic medicines. The company is keeping its bet centered on diseases where existing therapies still leave a meaningful minority of patients behind.